All his life he would cherish the memory of an endless caravan of camels alongside the railway line, the laden beasts plodding patiently through the snow, ignoring the twentieth century as it hurtled past them in a clash of iron and a shriek of steam.
The ability to listen to smart people who disagree with you is a rare talent – but.
Abraham was asked to sacrifice his only son. God no longer asks for blood sacrifices, for the ultimate sacrifice has been made. But the lesson of Abraham’s story is that God demands the best we have to offer, that which is most precious to us.
There was much talk about why the prime minister had brought back such a troublesome and unpredictable colleague, and the consensus was that he preferred to have Churchill inside the tent spitting out.
President Wilson says a leader must treat public opinion the way a sailor deals with the wind, using it to blow the ship in one direction or another, but never trying to go directly against it.
In my books, women often solve the problem. Even if the woman is not the hero, she’s a strong character. She does change the plot. She’ll often rescue the male character from some situation.
Trusting someone was like holding a little water in your cupped hands – it was so easy to spill the water, and you could never get it back.
But the lesson of Abraham’s story is that God demands the best we have to offer, that which is most precious to us.
Hard work should be rewarded by good food.
The duck swallows the worm, the fox kills the duck, the men shoot the fox, and the devil hunts the men.
Proportion is the heart of beauty.
I use a professional researcher in New York who does all the legwork, all that stuff which would take me days and weeks of calling, waiting for people to call back.
There is a real connection between Philosopy and fiction.
I imagined it. I wrote it. But I guess I never thought I’d see it.
The thriller is the most popular literary genre of the 20th century.
Nevertheless, the book gave Jack a feeling he had never had before, that the past was like a story, in which one thing led to another, and the world was not a boundless mystery, but a finite thing that could be comprehended.
The research is the easiest. The outline is the most fun. The first draft is the hardest, because every word of the outline has to be fleshed out. The rewrite is very satisfying.
Knotty theological questions are the least worrying of problems to me. Why? Because they will be resolved in the hereafter, and meanwhile they can be safely shelved.
His aim was the glory of God, but the glory of Philip pleased him too.
But desperate people find courage.