Bokelskere.no

The books people read, - was there anything more revealing?

Truth ensures trust, but not victory, or even happiness.

... only the humble can value humilty.

[H]e was very nervous of calling on people, in case they should think him dull. This, of course, as everyone knows, is one of the best ways of appearing dull.

"Bruce is so afraid of hurting other people's feelings" she said "that if you gave him furniture-polish by mistake for salad-dresing, he'd eat it sooner than tell you."

In the course of three years he had learnt enough to be able to do nearly all the work of the man immediately above him, and to make the man immediately below him do almost all the work that he was supposed to do himself. This system is known as "efficient co-ordination" and carried to its logical conclusion implies that the head of the firm does no work at all, and that the junior office boy is ultimately responsible for everything. Roughly speaking, this sums up the position in any smooth-running organisation.

Krigens råskap var uten grenser og krig avler krig. Også denne krigen hadde røtter i den forrige og Gud vet hvor lang tid det kom til å gå før denne krigens spor ble utslettet - hvis den da ble det noen gang. Det skulle ikke forundre ham om det ved denne krigens slutt ble lagt grunnlag for en tredje storkrig. Menneskene var slik og hadde alltid vært slik siden de begynte å vandre omkring på jorden, helt tilbake til Kain og Abels dager. Bror sto mot bror og far mot sønn. Ingen var bedre og ingen var heller verre.

Mange ganger hadde han sett døden i øynene. Ventet på det hinsidige - ikke som en uvelkommen gjest, men som en nødvendighet av sitt levnetsløp. Han hadde tidlig gjort opp sin mening. Det var ikke spørsmål om hvor lenge man lever, men hvordan man lever.

Kan du huske at barn aldri tror på døden? De legger en død spurvunge under ovnen og sitter på huk og venter på at den skal våkne, enda du sier til dem gang på gang at den er død og våkner ikke mer. Ingenting dør for dem, alt skal leve bestandig og bare sove litt iblant. Selv steinen får liv i hendene på et barn.

… nor are the any directions in my German-English Conversational Guide as to what you are to say when you are being murdered.

[W]hat we think and feel during a sleepless night is completely useless, utterly futile, a wasted moment of life.

Philip had never been able to surmount what he acknowledged was a defect in his resolute desire for a well ordered life, and that was his passion for living in the future

"I've got a rotten nature," he said to himself. "I look forward to things awfully, and then when they come I'm always disappointed."

It is not very comfortable to have the gift of being amused at one's own absurdity.

He was not of those who can talk of what moves them without caring whether it bores or not the people they talk to.

…he had the unfortunate gift of seeing things as they were, and the reality which was offered him differed too terribly from the ideal of his dreams.