Ken Follett QUOTES

83 " Erik was one of those inadequate people who were so scared by life that they preferred to live under harsh authority, to be told what to do and what to think by a government that allowed no dissent. They were foolish and dangerous, but there were an awful lot of them. "

― Ken Follett , Winter of the World (The Century Trilogy #2)

84 " Marvelous, isn’t it, how these Germans can shoot back at us even when they’re fucking dead. "

― Ken Follett , Fall of Giants (The Century Trilogy, #1)

85 " The small boys came early to the hanging. "

― Ken Follett , The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1)

86 " You don’t give up on democracy every time you lose a vote”, Ethel said crisply. "

― Ken Follett , Winter of the World (The Century Trilogy #2)

87 " His aim was the glory of God, but the glory of Philip pleased him too. "

― Ken Follett , The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1)

88 " He was seething inside with a new emotion. Nothing seemed very important anymore except the Princess. He was single-minded about her. He was enchanted. He was possessed. He was in love. "

― Ken Follett , The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1)

89 " How terrible, Jack thought, to be old and know that your life has been wasted. "

― Ken Follett , The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1)

90 " Mam kissed Ethel and said: “I'm glad to see you settled at last, anyway,” That word ANYWAY carried a lot of baggage, Ethel thought. It meant: “Congratulations, even though you're a fallen woman, and you've got an illegitmate child whose father no one knows, and you're marrying a Jew, and living in London, which is the same as Sodom and Gomorrah.” But Ethel accepted Mam's qualified blessing and vowed never to say such things to her own child. "

― Ken Follett , Fall of Giants (The Century Trilogy, #1)

91 " The trouble with being inspired to perform the impossible was that the inspiration gave you no clues to the practical means. "

― Ken Follett , Eye of the Needle

92 " She had believed that love was something she could bestow upon whomever she liked, and that her main responsibility was to choose cleverly. "

― Ken Follett , Winter of the World (The Century Trilogy #2)

93 " He was like a man who has got used to drinking the finest wine, and now finds that everyday wine thats like vinegar. "

― Ken Follett , The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1)

94 " —Que Dios nos libre de los hombres con un destino dictado por la voluntad divina "

― Ken Follett , Fall of Giants (The Century Trilogy, #1)

95 " But her angry feminism had set as hard as concrete during years of living alongside the tough, hardworking, dirt-poor women of London’s East End. Men often told a fairy tale in which there was a division of labor in families, the man going out to earn money, the woman looking after home and children. Reality was different. Most of the women Ethel knew worked twelve hours a day and looked after home and children as well. Underfed, overworked, living in hovels, and dressed in rags, they could still sing songs and laugh and love their children. In Ethel’s view one of those women had more right to vote than any ten men. "

― Ken Follett , Fall of Giants (The Century Trilogy, #1)

96 " She was dressed in white, and her tunic had amazing flared sleeves which trailed on the ground behind her as she glided down the stairs. Her hair was a mass of dark curls tumbling around her face, and she had dark, dark eyes. Jack realized that this was what the chansons meant when they referred to a beautiful princess in a castle. No wonder the knights all wept when the princess died. "

― Ken Follett , The Pillars of the Earth (Kingsbridge, #1)

97 " I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. ‘I have a dream that one day, on the red hills of Georgia, the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down to gether at the table of brotherhood – I have a dream. ‘That one day even the state of Mississippi – a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of op pression – will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice. I have a dream.’ He had hit a rhythm, and two hundred thousand people felt it sway their souls. It was more than a speech: it was a poem and a canticle and a prayer as deep as the grave. The heartbreaking phrase ‘I have a dream’ came like an amen at the end of each ringing sentence. ‘. . . That my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character – I have a dream today. ‘I have a dream that one day down in Alabama – with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification – one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers – I have a dream today. ‘With this faith we will be able to hew, out of the mountain of despair, a stone of hope. ‘With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. ‘With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.’ Looking around, Jasper saw that black and white faces alike were running with tears. Even he felt moved, and he had thought himself immune to this kind of thing. ‘And when this happens; when we allow freedom to ring; when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city; we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands . . .’ Here he slowed down, and the crowd was almost silent. King’s voice trembled with the earthquake force of his passion. ‘. . . and sing, in the words of the old Negro spiritual: ‘Free at last! ‘Free at last! ‘Thank God Almighty, we are free at last! "

― Ken Follett , Edge of Eternity (The Century Trilogy, #3)

98 " A German attack on Russia’s ally France would, in reality, be defensive—but the English talked as if Germany was trying to dominate Europe. "

― Ken Follett , Fall of Giants (The Century Trilogy, #1)

99 " The heart is a map of the world, did you know that?” “I don’t even know what it means,” he said. “I saw a medieval map once. It showed the earth as a flat disc with Jerusalem in the center. Rome was bigger than Africa, and America was not even shown, of course. The heart is that kind of map. The self is in the middle and everything else is out of proportion. You draw the friends of your youth large, then later it’s impossible to rescale them when other more important people need to be added. Anyone who has done you wrong is shown too big, and so is anyone you loved. "

― Ken Follett , Edge of Eternity (The Century Trilogy, #3)

100 " You didn’t ask for a priest.” “Whether I’ve been good or bad, I don’t think God will be fooled by a last-minute change of heart. "

― Ken Follett , World Without End (Kingsbridge, #2)