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161 " one gets so hopelessly tired of deception. "
― Graham Greene
162 " That was my first instinct -- to protect him. It never occurred to me that there was a greater need to protect myself. Innocence always calls mutely for protection when we would be so much wiser to guard ourselves against it: innocence is like a dumb leper who has lost his bell, wandering the world, meaning no harm. "
― Graham Greene , The Quiet American
163 " Why do we have this desire to tease the innocent? Is it envy? "
― Graham Greene , The End of the Affair
164 " Innocence must die young if it isn't to kill the souls of men "
165 " Intimacy with one person could do this-empty the world of friendships, give a distaste for women's kisses and their bright chatter, make the ordinary world a little unreal and very uninteresting. "
― Graham Greene , Orient Express
166 " Writing is a form of therapy; sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation. "
167 " One can't love humanity. One can only love people. "
― Graham Greene , The Ministry of Fear
168 " Pity is cruel. Pity destroys. "
169 " It is always of interest to know what strikes another human being as remarkable. "
170 " The old man in the beard he felt convinced was wrong. He was too busy saving his own soul. Wasn't it better to take part even in the crimes of people you loved, if it was necessary hate as they did, and if that were the end of everything suffer damnation with them rather than be saved alone? "
171 " Human nature is not black and white but black and grey. "
172 " Morality comes with the sad wisdom of age, when the sense of curiosity has withered. "
173 " There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in. "
174 " Insecurity is the worst sense that lovers feel; sometimes the most humdrum desireless marriage seems better. Insecurity twists meanings and poisons trust. "
175 " I measured love by the extent of my jealousy. "
176 " Pain is easy to write. In pain we're all happily individual. But what can one write about happiness? "
177 " ...and yet could swear it was just then that I fell in love. It wasn't, of course, simply the onions -- it was the sudden sense of an individual woman, of a frankness that was so often later to make me happy and miserable. "
178 " I became aware that our love was doomed; love had turned into a love affair with a beginning and an end. I could name the very moment when it had begun, and one day I knew I should be able to name the final hour. When she left the house I couldn't settle to work. I would reconstruct what we had said to each other; I would fan myself into anger or remorse. And all the time I knew I was forcing the pace. I was pushing, pushing the only thing I loved out of my life. As long as I could make believe that love lasted I was happy; I think I was even good to live with, and so love did last. But if love had to die, I wanted it to die quickly. It was as though our love were a small creature caught in a trap and bleeding to death; I had to shut my eyes and wring its neck. "
179 " Time has its revenges, but revenge seems so often sour. Wouldn’t we all do better not trying to understand, accepting the fact that no human being will ever understand another, not a wife with a husband, nor a parent a child? Perhaps that’s why men have invented God – a being capable of understanding. "
180 " You needn't be so scared. Love doesn't end. Just because we don't see each other... "