Susan Howatch

'I deserve to be thought a coward. I am a coward. I'm just so bloody afraid of dying — of losing —'

Kester wrote about people and since human nature doesn't change his observations hadn't dated.

Romance is the opiate of the dissatisfied, it anaesthesises them from the pain of their disordered second-rate lives [...] If romance is the opiate of the dissatisfied then surely nostalgia is the opiate of the disillusioned, for those who see all their dreams come true and find themselves living in a nightmare.

'Friendship's best,' I said, 'and friendship's forever because no baby can come along to spoil it.'

One must be rational about such matters and being rational need not mean being cold.

Distrust grows out of lies. Wrong-doing grows out of distrust. Tragedy grows out of wrong-doing. But out of honesty grows love and love's so powerful, it'll be like a suit of armour, protecting Robert, protecting you.

'Success on that scale don't make for happiness. Look at Asquith. Why does he drink? I wouldn't want you to end up a drunkard like that.'

Man cannot live on charm alone, and an ambitious man cannot live on anything less than wealth, good social connections and substantial political influence.

'I could always walk out on a husband. But I could never turn my back on a friend.'

'There are standards of immorality as well as standards of morality, Robert. Make sure yours are high.'

A rational disposition must necessarily preclude a romantic outlook in life, and only the failures of this world can afford to dispense with a rational disposition.

'The English don't have opinions about the Irish. They have prejudices.'