Best 64 quotes of James Clavell on MyQuotes

James Clavell

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    James Clavell

    And Adam ruled, for he was the King. Until the day his will to be King deserted him. Then he died, food for a stronger. And the strongest was always the King, not by strength alone, but King by cunning and luck and strength together. Among the rats.

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    James Clavell

    Anger is one of the most intimate of emotions and to expose it to strangers is one of the most stupid and sickening things to do. Never get angry with strangers because they are strangers.

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    James Clavell

    Anger is something you should only vent in front of intimates, and friends and relations. Never be angry in front of strangers because you lose face.

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    James Clavell

    .., by universal custom, your enemy is never more polite than when he is planning or has planned your destruction.

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    James Clavell

    Changi became my university instead of my prison. Among the inmates there were experts in all walks of life - the high and the low roads. I studied and absorbed everything I could from physics to counterfeiting, but most of all I learned the art of surviving.

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    James Clavell

    Changi for me - of course it's easy to be wise after the event, and to discuss it cleverly after the event - was about as near as you can get to being dead and still be alive.

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    James Clavell

    God gives us intelligence to uncover the wonders of nature. Without the gift, nothing is possible.

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    James Clavell

    Guard yourself and your conscience no one else will and know that a bad decision at the right time can destroy you far more surely than any bullet!

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    James Clavell

    Horses are far worse than men for treachery.

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    James Clavell

    How baffling it was that even the most cunning and clever people would frequently see only what they wanted to see, and would rarely look beyond the thinnest of facades. Or they would ignore reality, dismissing it as the facade. And then, when their whole world fell to pieces...they would tear their topknots or rend their clothes and bewail their karma, blaming gods or kami or luck or their lords or husbands or vassals-anything or anyone-but never themselves.

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    James Clavell

    How beautiful life is and how sad! How fleeting, with no past and no future, only a limitless now.

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    James Clavell

    How can a man be so brave and so stupid, so gentle and so cruel, so warming and so detestable -- all at the same time?

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    James Clavell

    Isn't it only laughter we can stay human?

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    James Clavell

    Isn’t it only through laughter that we become one with the gods and thus can endure life and can overcome all the horror and waste and suffering here on earth? …Isn’t it only through laughter we can stay human?

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    James Clavell

    It's always important to take time to study men -- important men. Friends and enemies.

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    James Clavell

    It's a saying they have, that a man has a false heart in his mouth for the world to see, another in his breast to show to his special friends and his family, and the real one, the true one, the secret one, which is never known to anyone except to himself alone, hidden only God knows where.

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    James Clavell

    I write short stories. They may appear big in size, but when you consider it, they're four or five novels in one... In return for picking up one of my books, I'm trying to give them value for their money... the goal of writing any book is to create the illusion that what you are reading is reality and you're part of it.

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    James Clavell

    Leave the problems of God to God and karma to karma. Today you're here and nothing you do will change that. Today you are alive and here and honored and blessed with good fortune. Look at this suset, it's beautiful, neh? This sunset exists. Tomorrow does not exist. There is only now. Please look. It is so beautiful and it will never happen ever again, never, not this sunset, never in all infinity. Lose yourself in it, make yourself one with nature and do not worry about karma, yours, mine, or that of the village.

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    James Clavell

    Life and death are the same...Leave karma to karma.

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    James Clavell

    Love is a Christian word, Anjin-san. Love is a Christian thought, a Christian ideal. We have no word for 'love' as I understand you to mean it. Duty, loyalty, honor, respect, desire, those words and thoughts are what we have, all that we need.

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    James Clavell

    Of what real value is a title? The power is the only important thing

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    James Clavell

    Only by living at the edge of death can you understand the indescribable joy of life - Shogun.

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    James Clavell

    Patience means restraining yourself. There are seven emotions, Joy, anger, anxiety, adoration, grief, fear, and hate. If a man doesn't give way to these, he's patient. I'm not as strong as I might be but I'm patient.

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    James Clavell

    So much of 'normal, civilized' life is bull that you can't imagine... What frightens you, doesn't frighten me, what frightens me, you'd laugh at.

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    James Clavell

    The more I know, the more sure I am I know so little. The eternal paradox.

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    James Clavell

    The search for the truth is the most important work in the whole world - and the most dangerous.

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    James Clavell

    To think bad thoughts is really the easiest thing in the world. If you leave your mind to itself it will spiral down into ever increasing unhappiness. To think good thoughts, however, requires effort. This is one of the things that discipline and training is all about.

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    James Clavell

    Wars are fought by teenagers, you realize that. They really ought to be fought by the politicians and old people who start these wars.

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    James Clavell

    What are clouds, but an excuse for the sky? What is life, but an escape from death?

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    James Clavell

    What can I do to help thee?" he asked. "Believe there is a tomorrow.

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    James Clavell

    What you do with strangers is ignore them for. No second chance, no sorry I did it, never accept an apology, but never, ever get angry with strangers.

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    James Clavell

    Why is she afraid?" he asked. "She's not Anjin-san. Just a little nervous. Please excuse her. She's never seen a foreigner close to before." "Tell her when the moon's full, barbarians sprout horns and fire comes out of our mouths like dragons.

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    James Clavell

    You've commited murder just as much as Helene did. You killed a fly with a human head. She killed a human with a fly head.

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    James Clavell

    Always remember, child... that to think bad thoughts is really the easiest thing in the world. If you leave your mind to itself it will spiral you down into ever increasing unhappiness. To think good thoughts, however, requires effort. This is one onf the things that discipline - training - is about.

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    James Clavell

    Beyond the castle walls, the city lay in almost total darkness. Above, the moon was pallid and misted. It was a brooding, darkling night. And, it seemed to him, doom walked the heavens.

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    James Clavell

    Fallibility in a leader is very trying. Isn’t it? They spill so much of other people’s blood.

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    James Clavell

    Gods are like people. They believe anything if you tell them right way.

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    James Clavell

    I can't use hope against swords.

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    James Clavell

    If you're a sailor, best not know how to swim. Swimming only prolongs the inevitable—if the sea wants you and your time has come.

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    James Clavell

    It is bad manners to say that you will piss on anyone. Very bad. It is bad manners and very stupid to say that you will piss on anyone when you are unarmed. It is very bad manners and even more stupid to say that you will piss on anyone when you are unarmed, powerless, and not prepared to allow your friends and family or whomever to perish first.

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    James Clavell

    It’s only Christian to be chivalrous to your enemies.

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    James Clavell

    Let's compete freely. Goddam tariffs! Free trade and free seas—that's what's right!

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    James Clavell

    Listen, if you want peace you must learn to drink cha from an empty cup.

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    James Clavell

    Mariko,san, it was your karma to die gloriously and live forever. Anjin-san, my friend, it is your karma never to leave this land. It is mine to be Shogun.

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    James Clavell

    Oare ce-s nourii Daca nu o justificare a cerului? Oare ce-i viata Daca nu o amanare a mortii?

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    James Clavell

    Oh, yes. Every year in this Land of the Gods we have earth tremors. And fires and flood and Great Waves, and the monster storms - the tai-funs. Nature is very strong with us.' Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes. 'Perhaps that is why we love life so much, Anjin-San. You see, we have to. Death is a part of our air and sea and earth. You should know, Anjin-San, in this Land of Tears, death is our heritage.

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    James Clavell

    Only a real man has the right to stand at the pinnacle.

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    James Clavell

    Patience is important for a man, vital for a leader

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    James Clavell

    Perhaps that is why we love life so much, Anjin-san. You see, we have to. Death is part of our air and see and earth.

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    James Clavell

    So easy now that Elder Sister has explained to her what all young girls in houses are taught—that with care and meticulous acting and tears of pretended pain and fear, and the final modest telltale stains cautiously placed, a girl can, if necessary, be virgin ten times for ten different men.