77 quotes
The economy of a novelist is a little like that of a careful housewife who is unwilling to throw away anything that might perhaps serve its turn. Perhaps the comparison is closer to the Chinese cook who leaves hardly any part of a duck unserved.
We mustn’t complain too much of being comedians—it’s an honourable profession. If only we could be good ones the world might gain at least a sense of style. We have failed—that’s all. We are bad comedians, we aren’t bad men.
The Comedians (1966)
I have often noticed that a bribe...has that effect — it changes a relation. The man who offers a bribe gives away a little of his own importance; the bribe once accepted, he becomes the inferior, like a man who has paid for a woman.
The Comedians (1966)
Life was a series of complicated tactical exercises ...
Brighton Rock (1938)
"Under my cloak, a fig for the King!"
Monsignor Quixote (1982)
He knew everything in theory, nothing in practice... He knew the moves, he'd never played the game.
Brighton Rock (1938)
"God save us always," I said, "from the innocent and the good."
The Quiet American (1955)
At the end of what is called the "sexual life" the only love which has lasted is the love which has everything, every disappointment, every failure and every betrayal, which has accepted even the sad fact that in the end there is no desire so deep as the simple desire for companionship.
May We Borrow Your Husband? (1967)
It was not the kind of surroundings in which any one with free will — if such a man existed — would have chosen to await death.
The Honorary Consul (1973)
We do not choose our concerns.
The Third Man (1949)
[About Pinkie's character] The word murder conveyed no more to him than the word 'box', 'collar', 'giraffe'.
Brighton Rock (1938)
But the great moment was over — here in Orizaba it was like Galilee between the Crucifixion and the Resurrection — all the enthusiasm had been spent.
The Lawless Roads (1939)
If we had not been taught how to interpret the story of the Passion, would we have been able to say from their actions alone whether it was jealous Judas or the cowardly Peter who loved Christ?
The End of the Affair (1951)
[Ida] "...It's a good world if you don't weaken."
Brighton Rock (1938)
The sense of unhappiness is so much easier to convey than that of happiness. In misery we seem aware of our own existence, even though it may be in the form of a monstrous egotism: this pain of mine is individual, this nerve that winces belong to me and to no other. But happiness annihilates us: we lose our identity.
The End of the Affair (1951)
What right had I to value her less than the bodies in the square? Suffering is not increased by numbers; one body can contain all the suffering the world can feel. I had judged like a journalist, in terms of quantity, and I had betrayed my own principles; I had become as engage as Pyle, and it seemed to me that no decision would ever be simple again.
The Quiet American (1955)
… it was the little things which tripped you up.
Brighton Rock (1938)