Iain Pears Quotes

Virtue comes through contemplation of the divine, and the exercise of philosophy. But it also comes through public service. The one is incomplete without the other. Power without wisdom is tyranny; wisdom without power is pointless.

Philosophy cannot be extinguished, though men will try ... The spirit seeks the light, that is its nature. It wishes to return to its origin, and must forever try to reach enlightenment.

Every cataclysm is welcomed by somebody; there is always someone to rejoice at disaster and see in it the prospect of a new beginning and a better world.

Caius was one of those who gloried in his ignorance, called his lack of letters purity, scorned any subtlety of thought or expression. A man for his time, indeed.

The devil himself can become beauty, so we are told, to corrupt mankind."
(Marco)

Diplomacy and virtue do not make easy companions.

His idleness was his refuge, and in this he was like many others in [occupied] France in that period; laziness became political.

For, in his opinion, to study nature was a form of worship.

He had volunteered early, rather than waiting to be conscripted, for he felt a duty and an obligation to serve, and believed that ... being willing to fight for his country and the liberty it represented, would make some small difference. ... His idealism was one of the casualties of the carnage [of Verdun].

I learned that I' have to be detached if I was ever to achieve anything at all.

For the first time, she did want more. She did not know what she wanted, knew that it was dangerous and that she should rest content with what she had, but she knew an emptiness deep inside her, which began to ache.

Felix had gone to live in a lotus land of his imagination. Where what is desired is dreamed of as already happened, where obstacles dissolve under the weight of desire, and where reality has vanished entirely.

And here was the moment. The end of it all, for civilization was merely another name for friendship, and friendship was coming to an end.

Father is a school manqué ... He always wanted to write books. But he became rich instead, so is not allowed.