Quotes from Dick Francis

I looked into his sandy brown eyes, at one with the hair. At the business- like outward presentation of the man who daily printed sneers, innuendo, distrust and spite and spoke without showing a trace of them. 'Off the record,' I said,'bash his face in'.

Infinite sadness is not to trust an old friend.

Mrs Palis­sey and I tend­ed to have the same con­ver­sa­tions over and over and slight­ly too of­ten.

She said several times that Malcolm was a fiend who was determined to destroy his children, and that I was the devil incarnate helping him. She hoped we would both rot in hell. (I thought devils and fiends might flourish there, actually.)

Life is like the weather,despite a sunny forecast you can get wet.

If ever you get invited into someone's home,' my father said (as he had been invited five or six times that morning), 'you go into the sitting-room and you say, "Oh, what an attractive room!" even if you think it's hideous.

Silly,' he said with mock serenity, 'isn't a word you should ever apply to people. They may be totally stupid, in fact, but if you call them silly you've lost their vote.

Crime to many is not crime but simply a way of life. If laws are inconvenient, ignore them, they dont apply to you.

Good manners are a sign of strength.

I wondered to what extent people remained the same as they'd been when very young; if one peeled back the layers of living one would come to the know child.

Historically, more people have died of religion than cancer.

He gave me a last dark look, not admitting defeat,not giving an inch .I watched him with unexpected regret. Watched him until the consciousness went out of his eyes and they were simply open but seeing nothing.

Tyrants come and go, tyranny is constant.

I waved back and went in, and began to sort my way through ancient building plans that had been rolled up so long that straightening them out was like six bouts with an octopus.

Chick forced himself to turn his head away, to walk in view of that window, to take the ten exposed steps down to the chestnut's stall.

Thought before action, if you have time

Lightheartedness was a treasure in a world too full of sorrows, a treasure little regarded and widely forfeited to agression, greed and horrendous tribal rituals.

what is money for, if not to get what you want?

Stifling hope is a hopeless business.

In the context of ten thousand years, I thought, what did Filmer and his sins matter? Yet all we had was here and now, and here and now was always where the struggle toward goodness had to be fought. Toward virtue, morality, uprightness, order: call it what one liked. A long, ever-recurring battle.

I gazed at him. He was old enough to know that few things were fair. Most five-year-olds had already discovered it.

Beach's conspicuous intelligence would take him far if only he would stir himself to choose a direction

Reason said it was wasn't long enough. Instinct said it was.

Be grateful for villainy, I thought. The jobs of millions depended on it, Gerard's included. Police, lawyers, tax inspectors, prison warders, court officials, security guards, locksmiths and people making burglar alarms. Where would they be the world over but for the multiple faces of Cain. "Gerard," I said.