Graham Greene Quotes

1904–1991 England

Henry Graham Greene, OM, CH (2 October 1904 – 3 April 1991) was an English novelist, playwright, short story writer, travel writer and critic whose works explore the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world.

England
Essayists
Journalists
Memoirists
Novelists

Also known as: Greene, Graham, The Quiet American

Random Graham Greene quote

77 quotes

There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.

The Power and the Glory (1940)

Our worst enemies here are not the ignorant and the simple, however cruel; our worst enemies are the intelligent and corrupt.

The Human Factor (1978)

The world is not black and white. More like black and grey.

Cynicism is cheap—you can buy it at any Monoprix store—it’s built into all poor-quality goods.

The Comedians (1966)

A story has no beginning or end: arbitrarily one chooses that moment from which to look back or from which to look ahead.

The End of the Affair (1951)

People who like quotations love meaningless generalizations.

‎Philip Stratford (1973)

Heresy is only another word for freedom of thought.

To me comfort is like the wrong memory at the wrong place or time: if one is lonely one prefers discomfort.

The End of the Affair (1951)

It is impossible to go through life without trust: that is to be imprisoned in the worst cell of all, oneself.

The Ministry of Fear (1943)

Morality comes with the sad wisdom of age, when the sense of curiosity has withered.

That instinct for human character that is perhaps inherent in an imaginative writer.

Getting to know the General (1984)

Success is more dangerous than failure, the ripples break over a wider coastline.

When you visualized a man or woman carefully, you could always begin to feel pity— that was a quality God's image carried with it.

The Power and the Glory (1940)

Reality in our century is not something to be faced.

Our Man in Havana (1958)

The trouble is I don't believe my unbelief.

Thrillers are like life—more like life than you are … it’s what we’ve all made of the world.

The Ministry of Fear (1943)

You think it more difficult to turn air into wine than to turn wine into blood?

Despair is the price one pays for setting oneself an impossible aim.

The Heart of the Matter (1948)

It is the story-teller's task to elicit sympathy and a measure of understanding for those who lie outside the boundaries of State approval.

A major character has to come somehow out of the unconscious.

Attribution

Quotes and notes from Wikiquote: Graham Greene (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.