Susan Howatch

Quotes

1. 'Acquiring carnal knowledge is like swimming in the sea ... The sea's so beautiful to look at, so wonderful to swim in, but you must never bathe unless it's safe. People so often drown in the sea and some coasts are so very dangerous, ... like the Coast of Gower.'

2. 

   Redemption's just a word and as I'm not a Christian it means nothing to me.

3. 

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

4. 

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

5. 

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

6. 

   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.

7. 

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

8. 

   The one advantage of being childless is that one can choose one's children and so avoid the bizarre game of chance in which one passes one's best — or one's worst — genes to one's poor innocent offspring.

9. 

   What a bloody jungle income tax is! It's a wonder we don't all go on strike and refuse to pay.

10. 

    More tears. Disgraceful. I was getting just like Kester, weeping at the drop of a hat, but of course I was Kester. I'd become him, and now there was just this other stranger who wrote me debonair notes and who sounded just like me.

11. 

    Again, be patient. And have courage. Remember, everything passes, even the most unspeakable horrors.

12. 

    'He wasn't just being selfish, he was being realistic. Marriage would have been very difficult if not downright impossible.'