John Christopher Quotes & Sayings

Some people are oil and water. — John Christopher

A reader should know what he might reasonably expect under a particular label. — John Christopher

Then I went to the windows and pulled them open. The rain had stopped and the night was very still, black except for the glow behind the western hills that marked the Burning Lands. A dog barked far off, once and no more. — John Christopher

Even though brutality used toward the young, by reason of their defenselessness, provoked greater anger and greater pity, it was still true that they were resilient. Was the wind tempered to the shorn lamb? He grimaced. All the lambs were shorn now, and the wind was from the northeast, full of ice and black frost. — John Christopher

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

And a leader has to command confidence, and consent. — John Christopher

In the early stages of writing children's books, an experienced lady editor said that while girls read boys' books, the converse was not true, and I may have been influenced by that. — John Christopher

A general does not use the same troops over and over again. — John Christopher

He was sometimes stern but more often kindly
just according to his lights, but he saw the world in simple shades of black and white, and found it hard to be patient with things that struck him as foolishness. — John Christopher

To voice doubts was unthinkable, but that did not means that doubts did not exist. — John Christopher

The moors themselves were barer, of course. The heather still grew, but the moorland grasses were gone; the outcrops of rocks jutted like teeth in the head of a skull. — John Christopher

Before you have faith you must believe, and before you believe there must be evidence of some sort to persuade the mind. Faith is remembering that evidence and holding to it against all that seems to challenge or contradict it. — John Christopher

There is always something to lose. But maybe more to gain. — John Christopher

I wanted to ask which war
the Boer or the Crimean? It was amazing how old people could talk about The War, as though that meant something. — John Christopher

Truth does not surround itself with lies. — John Christopher

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

He said, speaking more to himself than to me: 'It was knowledge I sought. Knowledge which is clean and pure, far above the cheating and deceiving in which most men spend their lives.'
And do you not find it,' I asked, 'this knowledge which you prize?'
In part,' he said. 'I find other things, too. Things I do not desire but must accept. There is still cheating and deceiving. — John Christopher

If one is seeking reasons for disloyalty, it is useful to find something one can resent. — John Christopher

It is hard to be defensive toward a danger which you have never imagined existed. — John Christopher

There are disappointments in all men's lives, even those who have achieved their ambition, and there are compensations. — John Christopher

I was remembering the things we had done together, the times we had had. It would have been pleasant to preserve that comradeship in the days that came after. Pleasant, but alas, impossible. That which had brought us together had gone, and now our paths diverged, according to our natures and needs. We would meet again, from time to time, but always a little more as strangers; until perhaps at last, as old men with only memories left, we could sit together and try to share them. — John Christopher

A long time ago. I came to the understanding that all men are friends by convenience and enemies by choice. — John Christopher

The original version of 'The White Mountains' was probably just about worth publishing. — John Christopher

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

As Pa said, censorship encouraged people to believe nonsense. — John Christopher

What men do matters more than what they know. — John Christopher

Having achieved what I thought was an ultimate ambition, I found, as I think is often the case, that there remained something more. — John Christopher

The apple which tempts my characters is the one that will remove the knowledge of good and evil. I suppose it's something of a reversal of the conventional Eden story: Freedom of thought is perhaps the greatest good, and needs to be fought for and sacrificed for. — John Christopher

The order should not have been given,' she said. 'It was not done for the city but for your private ends.'
I shook my head. 'There is no difference.'
You believe that?'
A Prince must, or he is no Prince. — John Christopher

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

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. — John Christopher

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

What I was suddenly aware of was the importance of their being whatever each of them was
cocky and contemptuous, or bothered and beaten
as long as it was something they'd come to in their own way: the importance of being human, in fact. The peace and harmony Uncle Ian and the others claimed to be handing out in fact was death, because without being yourself, an individual, you weren't really alive. — John Christopher

Everyone recognized she was without malice and therefore she provoked none. — John Christopher

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. — John Christopher

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. — John Christopher

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

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

Have a drink, and try to relax. All right, have another drink. There are times when getting drunk's not a bad idea. — John Christopher

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

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

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

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. — John Christopher

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

One enjoys friendship most when times are good, when the sun shines and the world is kind. But it is the sharing of adversity that knits men together. — John Christopher

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

People may be persuaded that the machine is doing good. In fact, good is only capable of being done on a small scale. Evil is more versatile. You can hate those you have never seen, all the vast multitudes of them, but you can only love those you know - and that with difficulty. — John Christopher