Philip Kerr Quotes & Sayings

The man who succeeds is the man who is able to reduce problems to their simplest terms and who has the courage of his convictions - despite the objections of intellectuals. The courage to speak, perhaps, even when he believes that what he is suggesting sounds like madness. — Philip Kerr

All nationalism is based on racism and hate. I'm Scottish; I was born in Scotland, as my parents, as my grandparents. — Philip Kerr

I think the context of an hour-long drama gives breathing space that you don't get in a film. — Philip Kerr

Plato talks about something called anamnesis, which is when something long forgotten comes to the surface of a man's consciousness. Now, I'll admit that just sounds like a fancy word for remembering something, but actually it's more than that because with remembering, it's not necessary to have forgotten anything, which makes for a subtle distinction. That's what cinema does. — Philip Kerr

The mark of a writer is to make a story as likely as possible, and I've done my best to deliver authentic atmosphere. — Philip Kerr

I don't really like heroes who always behave heroically. That's not interesting to me. — Philip Kerr

I don't much like opera, either. Especially Wagner. There's something about Wagner that's just too piss-German, too fucking Bavarian for a Prussian like me. I like my music to be every bit as vulgar as I am myself. I like a bit of innuendo and stocking-top when a woman's singing a song. — Philip Kerr

I was never one for looking at beautiful scenery, and certainly not since 1933; it distracts from the more important and admittedly metropolitan business of keeping an eye out for the Gestapo, which, with my politics, is an ever-present dilemma. — Philip Kerr

There is always a temptation to take things for granted, to get lazy, and to presume that the reader knows more than they do. — Philip Kerr

Socrates learned to his cost, the true nature of democracy is to encourage corruption and excess in all its forms. But the — Philip Kerr

If he was a member of the human race at all, Neumann was its least attractive specimen. His eyebrows, twitching and curling like two poisoned caterpillars, were joined together by an irregular scribble of poorly matched hair. Behind thick glasses that were almost opaque with greasy thumbprints, his grey eyes were shifty and nervous, searching the floor as if he expected that at any moment he would be lying flat on it. Cigarette smoke poured out from between teeth that were so badly stained with tobacco they looked like two wooden fences. — Philip Kerr

You talk like the Nazis were going to win the election, Bernie."
"I keep hoping they won't. And I keep worrying that they might. But I've got seven loaves and five fishes telling me the republic needs more than just a lucky break this time. If I wasn't a cop, I might believe in miracles. But I am and I don't. In this job you meet the lazy, the stupid, the cruel, and the indifferent. Unfortunately, that's what's called an electorate. — Philip Kerr

Sport crosses party lines and ethnic lines. It occupies a greater realm, and it's all the more disappointing when sports figures turn out to be like everyone else. — Philip Kerr

History asks us to imagine ourselves in a period, but it's a very different situation when you're in that period and faced with those situations. — Philip Kerr

All men come to resemble their fathers. That isn't a tragedy, but you need a hell of a sense of humour to handle it. — Philip Kerr

Sometimes a stupid man is only a couple of good guesses away from looking clever. — Philip Kerr

I was a member of Corstorphine Library in Edinburgh, and every Friday night, my parents took me there to borrow books. I also used to spend nearly all my pocket money on books. — Philip Kerr

It's not easy being the world's policeman. No one thanks you for it. — Philip Kerr

I shrugged. "Staying in a hotel is a bit like life. At some stage you have to check out." "Oh, — Philip Kerr

I really wanted to write the way Kubrick makes films - 'Strangelove,' '2001', 'Clockwork Orange', 'Barry Lyndon' - they're all so different. — Philip Kerr

I made an appointment to see him and then ordered another beer. While I was drinking it I did some doodling on a piece of paper, the algebraic kind that you hope will help you think more clearly. When I finished doing that, I was more confused than ever. Algebra was never my strong subject. — Philip Kerr

She ordered a coffee, and I ordered something I had no interest in drinking, so long as she was around. — Philip Kerr

The most interesting legal philosophy is German, so naturally I went to Germany, particularly to Berlin, quite a bit. — Philip Kerr

I prefer to write books for children instead of reading them. But I do strongly believe in childhood and in respecting childhood innocence. I don't like books for children that deal with adult themes. — Philip Kerr

A lot of crime writing suffers from treading water. I feel an obligation to move the character on and not repeat myself. I try to fit him into a different period and a different agenda. That way, you learn slightly more about his personal history in the tradition of the unreliable narrator. It makes it more challenging to write. — Philip Kerr

One day I hoped some thoughtful historian would point out the close connection between the Mercedes-Benz motor car and Germany's favorite dictator and that the Lord would find a way to pay these bastards back for their help in bringing the Nazis to power and keeping them there. — Philip Kerr

Looking round the room I found there were so many false eyelashes flapping at me that I was beginning to feel a draught. — Philip Kerr

All successful marriages are based on some necessary hypocrisies. It's only the unsuccessful ones where people always tell the truth to each other. The — Philip Kerr

The concierge was a snapper who was over the hill and down a disused mine-shaft. Her hair was every bit as natural as a parade goose-stepping down the Wilhelmstrasse, and she'd evidently been wearing a boxing-glove when she's applied the crimson lipstick to her paperclip of a mouth. — Philip Kerr

A man's bookseller should keep his confidence, like his physician. What can become of a world where every man knows what another man reads? Why, sir, books would become like quacks' potions, with every mountebank in the newspapers claiming one volume's superiority over another. — Philip Kerr

Well, who knew? When they were elected. That they were crooks, I mean." "Pretty much everyone who didn't vote for them, Friedrich. And I suspect quite a few of the stupid fools who did. Which only makes it worse. — Philip Kerr

Dalia picked up her negligee. She didn't need my help, it wasn't very heavy. — Philip Kerr

It was an interesting dilemma and pointed up a real point of difference between Nazism and Communism as forms of government: there was no room for the individual in Soviet Russia; conversely not everything was state-managed in Germany. The Nazis never shot anyone for being stupid, inefficient or just plain unlucky. Generally speaking the Nazis looked for a reason to shoot you, the commies were quite happy to shoot you without any reason at all - but when you're going to be shot, what's the difference? — Philip Kerr

My parents had never been to Germany. But I knew what I didn't want to write about, and I didn't want to write about Edinburgh. A lot of writers find Edinburgh fascinating, but I never did. As a matter of fact, I couldn't wait to get away from it. — Philip Kerr

When I feel I'm repeating myself, I'll probably pack it in. — Philip Kerr

After a while, you get tired of being the official Scot and defending everything Scottish. — Philip Kerr

The real question here is what happens to you, Gunther. In many ways you're a useful fellow to have around. Like a bent coat hanger in a toolbox, you're not something that was ever designed for a specific job, but you do manage to come in useful sometimes. — Philip Kerr

I think John le Carre is, at 77, the greatest living writer alive. He is a master craftsman. — Philip Kerr

If there's one thing history has taught me to believe it is that it's dangerous to believe in anything very much. — Philip Kerr

that's the thing about urgent paperwork: the longer you leave it the less urgent it becomes. — Philip Kerr

Horror does not need the dark, and sometimes a truly evil deed shuns the shadows. — Philip Kerr

I love sitting at my desk and facing a quiet day with a pen in my hand, and putting myself into a story. It's kind of weird, isn't it? I mean, to absent myself from real life and make up stories is strange, but I started doing this when I was ten years old. It was all I wanted to do. — Philip Kerr

The living always get over the dead. That's what the dead never realize. If ever the dead did come back, they'd only have been sore that somehow you managed to get over their dying at all. — Philip Kerr

No wonder Van Gogh cut his ear off, I thought; there's nothing else to do in a place like this but cut your ear off. — Philip Kerr

Believe me, I know a lot about harm's way. It turns sharp left off the road to Shitsville when you're least expecting it. — Philip Kerr

I'll be honest," I said. "I don't like it one little bit. But I'm delighted to see it exhibited without any interference from people who know as little about art as I do. Looking at it is like looking inside the head of someone who disagrees with you about nearly everything. It makes me feel uncomfortable." I shook my head sadly and sighed, "That's democracy, I guess." Another — Philip Kerr

It is always the women who rebuild the civilizations that the men have done their best to destroy — Philip Kerr

I didn't know you were interested in politics,' I said. 'I'm not,' he said. 'But isn't that how Hitler got elected in the first place: too many people who didn't give a shit who was running the country? — Philip Kerr

Berlin. I used to love this old city. But that was before it had caught sight of its own reflection and taken to wearing corsets laced so tight that it could hardly breathe. I loved the easy, carefree philosophies, the cheap jazz, the vulgar cabarets and all of the other cultural excesses that characterized the Weimar years and made Berlin seem like one of the most exciting cities in the world. — Philip Kerr

Sometimes I think God is just the devil pretending to be nice. — Philip Kerr

This is the country for cruel experiments - it's where idealists are sent to die, my friend. Killing people who believe in things is our national sport." With — Philip Kerr

Looking at him I felt as if I had just met a powerful gorilla while at the same time being in possession of the world's last banana. — Philip Kerr

Publishers just want you to write the same book over and over again. But why would I want to do that? It would be like putting on a threadbare dressing-gown day after day. — Philip Kerr

The fascination for me writing about crime in Berlin was the idea that there was this much bigger crime taking place in the background, a fantastically epochal moment in history which is just going on. That just sort of makes the whole thing have a greater resonance. — Philip Kerr

His name was Kurt Waldheim. — Philip Kerr

truth is rarely the truth and the things you thought weren't true often turn out not to be false. — Philip Kerr

to per cent I'll see if I can find him for you.' I — Philip Kerr

At least that was what she had told me. You never know with women. What they tell you and what they don't tell you is a very long bridge across a very wide river with all kinds of fish. — Philip Kerr

When you're working for people who are mostly thieves and murderers, a little of it comes off on your hands now and then. — Philip Kerr

Me and Schopenhauer. Sometimes being German seems to come with some serious disadvantages. — Philip Kerr

She walked toward me, her high heels perforating the polished wooden air of the Richmond's quiet basement like the slow beat of a tall clock. — Philip Kerr

When you get a cat to catch the mice in your kitchen, you can't expect it to ignore the rats in the cellar. — Philip Kerr

Being British, we tend to think of ourselves as America's best friend. And as your best friend, that gives us a little bit of license to point out things that could have been handled better. — Philip Kerr

If I weren't a writer, I think I might have thrown myself more enthusiastically into advertising. But, it's difficult to imagine being a diligent copywriter. It would be quite exasperating for me. — Philip Kerr

Being a Berlin cop in 1942 was a little like putting down mousetraps in a cage full of tigers. — Philip Kerr

There's a great tradition among the English of writing about Berlin. It's kind of a state of mind, almost. That even translates in terms of music. A lot of people go to Berlin with the idea that it's a state of mind. — Philip Kerr

Sport seems to be much more important to people than politics. — Philip Kerr

Farraj looked at me with the clinical distaste of a chiropodist regarding a septic toenail. — Philip Kerr

I write by hand and then transfer the text onto the computer. I like the process of actually having a pen in my hand. Things flow more easily for me that way. — Philip Kerr

A first class professional nutcracker who might have done a job about a week ago; stolen some bells. — Philip Kerr

As a writer, you rely on whatever makes you up as a person, whether those things are twisted and nasty or otherwise. — Philip Kerr

On the whole it's not wise to remind the devil that he's the devil, especially when we were getting on so well. — Philip Kerr

Winter came early that year. Snow filled the gray December air like fragments of torn-up hope — Philip Kerr

I always worry I've probably written one too many Bernie Gunther books and that I should probably give him his gold watch. — Philip Kerr

I don't think any of us know how we would react until we were put in a situation where we have to do something bad or do something good. I think I'd like to believe I'd act like a decent human being, but I'm realistic to know I don't know. — Philip Kerr

Scotland is the only case in the world where the poor part of a territory wants to separate from the rich part. If independence came, one option is to keep the pound as its currency, so that all economic decisions will continue to be taken by the Bank of England. — Philip Kerr

James Bond was an early favourite, although I didn't understand much of it. I read the Bible a lot, too. You might say that this was my favourite, since I seemed to read it so often. — Philip Kerr

There's something weird about the Scots. We are a troubled, slightly tortured race - the sense of the respectable outward character and, inside, the turmoil of something darker. — Philip Kerr

A man might think he can stare into the abyss without falling in but sometimes the abyss stares back. Sometimes the abyss exerts a strange effect on your sense of balance. — Philip Kerr

In my experience, Corporal, the best police work looks like nothing at all and is always soon forgotten." I — Philip Kerr

I will say that anyone who supports Scottish independence should go to Athens. Because nothing works. It is a disaster. It is a ruined, dirty place where people do not have money or future prospects. The day one after independence, Scotland would be worse. — Philip Kerr

thought that was the whole idea of the German Reformation. To abolish priestly intercession. — Philip Kerr

Religion was quite a thing in our house - we were Baptists. Some Sundays I went to church three times. If there was a talk on missionary work in the afternoon, I could be there all bloody day. But religion took its first big knock after Dad died. — Philip Kerr

I used to play quite a good lead guitar, R&B style. Clapton and BB King are heroes. — Philip Kerr

Hmm. That's what I suspected, you mad bastard. — Philip Kerr

He was as obsequious as a Japanese ivy plant. Wringing his hands as if he hoped to squeeze the milk of human kindness from his fingernails, ... — Philip Kerr

I always try to find a story in the margins of history, but I don't like to do too much that's improbable. — Philip Kerr

Compared with the person who had decorated and furnished the place, the Archduke Ferdinand had been blessed with the taste of a troupe of Turkish circus dwarves. — Philip Kerr

She was shot dead, in cold blood, he said bitterly. I could see we were in for a long night. I got out my cigarettes. — Philip Kerr

But in my wretched efforts to stay alive at almost any cost I could still hurt and be hurt in my turn, and as long as death's black barrel organ was playing it seemed I would have to dance to the cheerless, doom-filled tune that was turning inexorably on the drum, like some liveried monkey with a terrified rictus on its face and a tin cup in its hand. That didn't make me unusual; just German. — Philip Kerr

The colonel stood up. "I hope you enjoy your trip to Uruguay. Its government is stable, democratic, and politically mature. There's even a welfare state. Of course, the people are entirely European in origin. I believe they exterminated all the Indians. As a German, you should feel very much at home there. — Philip Kerr

The hardest thing is to write about people. First and foremost, you have to encounter their humanity. That is the only way you can make them live as characters on the page. — Philip Kerr

That smelled strongly of misery, which, as anyone will tell you, is a subtle mixture of hope, despair, rancid cooking fat, and men's piss. — Philip Kerr