John Christopher Quotes

As Pa said, censorship encouraged people to believe nonsense.

Morality, for all the conditioning to which the human mind has been and is subjected, is always a personal choice in the last analysis.

We all have to learn to live with our losses, and to use our regrets to spur us on in the future.

There is always something to lose. But maybe more to gain.

We had been friends. We could not become strangers. It left only one thing: we must be enemies.

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.

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.

What men do matters more than what they know.

His anger was as great as mine, but hot where mine was cold.

What tricks the mind is what the mind is glad to be tricked by.

Some people are oil and water.

There are times when thinking about something is the worst possible policy.

And though I remember her name I cannot recall her face. All things pass.

You would always beat me; not so much because you are a better fighter as because you will not accept defeat.

It is because they are so strong that she hides her feelings.

A man faced death, but when death drew back forgot it until the next time.

Even if it is nonsense, it is often useful to know what kind of nonsense men believe.

In the realm of dream and imagination all men are equal.

Fritz was melancholic by nature, and could tolerate his own gloom. I do not think this is so with you, who are sanguine and impatient. In your case, remorse and despondency could be crippling.

More and more I had come to see the Capped as lacking what seemed to me the essence of humanity, the vital spark of defiance against the rulers of the world.

And a leader has to command confidence, and consent.

Truth does not surround itself with lies.