D. James
D. James
believe mean one-day
But what do you believe? I don't just mean religion. What are you sure of?" "That once I was not and that now I am. That one day I shall no longer be.
past discipline dying
History, which interprets the past to understand the present and confront the future is the least rewarding discipline for a dying species.
stars intelligent credit
It is surely unreasonable to credit that only one small star in the immensity of the universe is capable of developing and supporting intelligent life. But we shall not get to them and they will not come to us.
loneliness more-time needed
Most of my life I have needed more time to be on my own.
writing scientist there-comes-a-time
There comes a time when every scientist, even God, has to write off an experiment.
cat animal merciful
We are often more merciful to our animals [cats] than we are to each other.
secret contentment want
The secret of contentment is never to allow yourself to want anything which reason tells you you haven't a chance of getting.
judgement may matter
It is always easy to question the judgement of others in matters of which we may be imperfectly informed.
struggle compassion air
It was reasonable to struggle, to suffer, perhaps even to die, for a more just, a more compassionate society, but not in a world with no future where, all to soon, the very words "justice," "compassion," "society," "struggle," "evil," would be unheard echoes on an empty air.
love-you tragedy half
He didn't want her; he wanted me. Well, you know how it is." Dalgliesh did know. This, after all, was the commonest, the most banal of personal tragedies. You loved someone. They didn't love you. Worse still, in defiance of their own best interests and to the destruction of your peace, they loved another. What would half the world's poets and novelists do without this universal tragicomedy?
inspirational children kids
If from infancy you treat children as gods, they are liable in adulthood to act as devils.
want looks protection
I don't want anyone to look to me, not for protection, not for happiness, not for love, not for anything.
race mind crumbling
Without the hope of posterity, for our race if not for ourselves, without the assurance that we being dead yet live, all pleasures of the mind and senses sometimes seem to me no more than pathetic and crumbling defences shored up against our ruin.
men past beast
Man is diminished if he lives without knowledge of his past; without hope of a future he becomes a beast.