Ken Follett Quotes - Page 2

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.

To someone standing in the nave, looking down the length of the church toward the east, the round window would seem like a huge sun exploding into innumerable shards of gorgeous color.

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.

We’re all good when it suits us, he used to say: that doesn’t count. It’s when you want so badly to do something wrong—when you’re about to make a fortune from a dishonest deal, or kiss the lovely lips of your neighbor’s wife, or tell a lie to get yourself out of terrible trouble—that’s when you need the rules. Your integrity is like a sword, he would say: you shouldn’t wave it until you’re about to put it to the test.

Why did people manufacture trouble when there was already so much of it in the world?

After a certain point, most people, including editors, will tell you everything you do is great.

I want to tell a story that makes the reader always want to see what will happen next.

What news? There's nothing to tell. I'm a nun.

The thriller is the most popular literary genre of the 20th century.

I might not be a good socialist, any more than I'm a good Christian, but I am one.

James Bond is quite serious about his drinks and clothing and cigarettes and food and all that sort of thing. There is nothing wry or amused about James Bond.

In both cases, weakness and scruples had defeated strength and ruthlessness.

A baby was like a revolution, Grigori thought: you could start one, but you could not control how it would turn out.

When I'm writing a woman character, I don't think, 'What would a woman do?' I just think, 'What would this character do in this situation?

An awful lot of thriller writers write women rather badly. So just doing it OK gets a lot of credit.

One of the hardest things for me, now that I'm famous, is finding people who can read my stuff and give me an honest critique.

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 boundary between philosophy and fiction is not as clear cut as you may think and the two definitely interact.

Ethel said: "Lloyd, there's someone here you may remember-" Daisy could not restrain herself. She ran to Lloyd and threw herself into his arms. She hugged him. She looked into his green eyes, then kissed his brown cheeks and his broken nose and then his mouth. "I love you, Lloyd," she sad madly. "I love you, I love you, I love you." "I love you, too, Daisy," he said. Behind her, Daisy heard Ethel's wry voice. "You do remember, I see.

Everybody takes what they life from the teachings of the church, and ignores the parts that don't suit them.

The CIA's research program is described in a book called "The Search for the Manchurian Candidate."

World War II is the greatest drama in human history, the biggest war ever and a true battle of good and evil. I imagine writers will continue to get stories from it, and readers will continue to love them, for many more years.

I aim to be translucent, so you don't notice the words, just their meaning. I haven't much insight into people's motivations.

Jack Reacher is a brilliant movie

I have quite a few different Bibles. Having rejected my parents' religion, I still think the King James Bible is the most important work of literature in English. None of us can help being influenced by it.