John Jakes Quotes & Sayings

Remember, men. it is better to wound than to slay, since it takes time to carry an injured man to the rear and sometimes requires two of the enemy rather than one. — John Jakes

Going after anything worthwile in life entailed risk, of course. A man of ambition and courage didn't let that stop or delay him. A man accepted the dangers, the element of chance. If he didn't, he won nothing. — John Jakes

Be persistent. Editors change; tastes change; editorial markets change. Too many beginning writers give up too easily. — John Jakes

He and Marie wandered through a square — John Jakes

I don't know if there is any place on this earth that I belong. — John Jakes

Libraries are magical places. There's nothing quite like strolling the hushed aisles, letting your eye rove along dimly lit shelves. Each spine, each title, seems to beckon with a promise of incredible wonders, surprises, and adventures. — John Jakes

Spend as much time as you can with your mouth shut and your eyes and ears open. — John Jakes

Guilty she might be. But what human being was not? There were things in her past she needn't be ashamed of, things to be proud of; she wouldn't surrender so meekly to a condemning judgment. — John Jakes

The best that could be left behind by any man: children who had been brought up to behave responsibly and to believe in something beyond their own self gratification. (The Americans — John Jakes

He shook two cigarettes from a crushed paper — John Jakes

Davis was especially scored for allegedly favoring foreigners and Jews in his administration. — John Jakes

Take a stand and make a mark. — John Jakes

The pain comes from more than the facts of circumstance, or the deeds of others. It comes from within. From understanding what we lost. It comes from knowing how foolish we were - vain, arrogant children - when we thought ourselves happy. It comes from knowing how fragile and doomed the old ways were, just when we thought them and ourselves, secure!. The pain comes from knowing we have never been safe, and therefore will never be safe again. It comes from knowing we can never be children again. — John Jakes

the public was tired of divisive politics, tired of radical social programs. — John Jakes

No writer should minimize the factor that affects everyone, but is beyond control: luck. — John Jakes

The first treasure California began to surrender after the Gold Rush as the oldest: her land. — John Jakes

Perhaps
the insight came suddenly
perhaps love existed in its truest, deepest form when one partner saw into the sul of the other and never shrank from what was discovered there. — John Jakes

Losing innocence. Remembering Heaven. That was the essence of Hell — John Jakes

The house burned an hour before midnight on the last day of April. The wild, distant ringing of the fire bells woke George Hazard. He stumbled through the dark hallway, then upstairs to the mansion tower, and stepped outside into the narrow balcony. — John Jakes

Why did people ignore the lessons of history and their own senses, deny a law of life immutable as the seasons, and erect twisted barriers against it in their minds? He didn't know why, but they did. They wept for the goodness of half-imaginary yesterdays, yesterdays beyond altering, instead of anticipating and helping to shape the good of possible tomorrows. They found things to blame for the flow of events they wanted to stop and could not. They blamed God, their wives, government, books, fanciful combinations of unnamed men
sometimes even voices in their own heads. They lived tortured and unhappy lives, trying to dam Niagara with a teacup. — John Jakes

That was an explanation, not an excuse. — John Jakes

Crossroads about the same time tomorrow. Ashton spent a few moments chattering about her excuse for being away from Mont Royal; it also involved staying with a friend, a nonexistent one. Madeline heard Ashton's voice, but few of the words registered. The three women crowded into the chaise, Ashton in the middle. It was evident to Madeline that Orry's sister didn't like squeezing against a Negress, but she'd just have to put up with it. — John Jakes

I have always had a special affinity for libraries and librarians, for the most obvious reasons. I love books. (One of my first Jobs was shelving books at a branch of the Chicago Public Library.) Libraries are a pillar of any society. I believe our lack of attention to funding and caring for them properly in the United States has a direct bearing on problems of literacy, productivity, and our inability to compete in today's world. Libraries are everyman's free university. — John Jakes

And I looked, and behold a pale horse, and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. — John Jakes

While Julia's down in Long Branch looking after Molly, you're supposed to — John Jakes

There are none happy in the world but beings who enjoy freely a vast horizon. — John Jakes

Human beings may be inconsistent, but human nature is true to itself — John Jakes

He could never be anything more than what he was: the inheritor of weakness and unbridled emotion, a creature possessed by the past, and carrying its curse forever into the future
— John Jakes

Be yourself. Above all, let who you are, what you are, what you believe, shine through every sentence you write, every piece you finish. — John Jakes

We are all dying of life. — John Jakes

It is too late. I love him. I know it may bring me grief, and I can't do a thing about it. Mr. Congreve was right about love being a frailty of the mind. — John Jakes

They had thought him such a 'good' man. They should have learned it was dangerous to trust appearances or take strangers at their word in this shit-hole world. — John Jakes

1891-1892 Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name Mother of exiles. 1883 The New Colossus by EMMA LAZARUS, written to raise funds to complete the Statue of Liberty — John Jakes

God! he swore silently. That man was ever born to be torn and troubled by women! — John Jakes