John Christopher
John Christopher
Sam Youd, known professionally as Christopher Samuel Youd, was a British writer, best known for science fiction under the pseudonym John Christopher, including the novels The Death of Grass, The Possessors, and the young-adult novel series The Tripods. He won the Guardian Prize in 1971 and the Deutscher Jugendliteraturpreis in 1976...
ProfessionWriter
thinking reflection coward
I think before I act---and then think again. I am not entirely a coward, but I do not lose myself in action as you do.
gains life-decision loses
There is always something to lose. But maybe more to gain.
strong feelings
It is because they are so strong that she hides her feelings.
men matter knows
What men do matters more than what they know.
fighter defeat accepting
You would always beat me; not so much because you are a better fighter as because you will not accept defeat.
names faces remember
And though I remember her name I cannot recall her face. All things pass.
mind tricks glad
What tricks the mind is what the mind is glad to be tricked by.
lying secret battle
The secret of success in battle lies often not so much in the use of one's own strength but in the exploitation of the other side's weaknesses.
thinking worst policy
There are times when thinking about something is the worst possible policy.
regret loss spurs
We all have to learn to live with our losses, and to use our regrets to spur us on in the future.
memories men trying
I was remembering the things we had done together, the times we had had. It would have been pleasant to preserve that comradeship in the days that came after. Pleasant, but alas, impossible. That which had brought us together had gone, and now our paths diverged, according to our natures and needs. We would meet again, from time to time, but always a little more as strangers; until perhaps at last, as old men with only memories left, we could sit together and try to share them.
believe people censorship
As Pa said, censorship encouraged people to believe nonsense.