DICK FRANCIS

But people as a rule believe only what they want to believe, and if you tell them anything else they'll call you a trouble-maker and get rid of you and never give you your job back, even if what you said is proved spot on right by time.

Historically, more people have died of religion than cancer.

I'd always found goodness more interesting then evil, though I was aware this wasn't the most general view. To my mind, it took more work and more courage to be good, an opinion continually reinforced by my own shortcomings.

Good manners are a sign of strength.

Crime to many is not crime but simply a way of life. If laws are inconvenient, ignore them, they don't apply to you.

Writing a novel proved to be the hardest, most self-analyzing task I had ever attempted, far worse than an autobiography: and its rewards were greater than I expected.

But one discarded dreams and got dressed, and made what one could of the day.

Emotion is a rotten base for politics.

I wondered to what extent people remained the same as they'd been when very young; if one peeled back the layers of living one would come to the know child.

Let an idea swim to the surface like a fish in a pool...let the mind drift to the vision.

Historically, more people have died of religion than cancer.

I wondered to what extent people remained the same as they'd been when very young; if one peeled back the layers of living one would come to the know child.

Crime to many is not crime but simply a way of life. If laws are inconvenient, ignore them, they don't apply to you.

Emotion is a rotten base for politics.

I'd always found goodness more interesting then evil, though I was aware this wasn't the most general view. To my mind, it took more work and more courage to be good, an opinion continually reinforced by my own shortcomings.

Good manners are a sign of strength.

Love's easy to learn. It's like taking a risk. You set your mind on it and refuse to be afraid, and in no time you feel terrifically exhilarated and all your inhibitions fly out of the window.

But one discarded dreams and got dressed, and made what one could of the day.

How could people, I wondered for the ten thousandth useless time, how could people who had loved so dearly come to such a wilderness; and yet the change in us was irreversible, and neither of us would even search for a way back. It was impossible. The fire was out. Only a few live coals lurked in the ashes, searing unexpectedly at the incautious touch.

Life has a way of kicking one along like a football, or so I've found. Fate had never dealt me personally a particularly easy time, but that was OK, that was normal. Most people, it seemed to me, took their turn to be football. Most survived. Some didn't.

Most people think, when they're young, that they're going to the top of their chosen world, and that the climb up is only a formality. Without that faith, I suppose, they might never start. Somewhere on the way they lift their eyes to the summit and know they aren't going to reach it; and happiness then is looking down and enjoying the view they've got, not envying the one they haven't.

A jump jockey has to throw his heart over the fence - and then go over and catch it.

The dignity of man was everywhere tissue-paper thin.

But people as a rule believe only what they want to believe, and if you tell them anything else they'll call you a trouble-maker and get rid of you and never give you your job back, even if what you said is proved spot on right by time.

Physics is the science of all the tremendously powerful invisibilities - of magnetism, electricity, gravity, light, sound, cosmic rays. Physics is the science of the mysteries of the universe. How could anyone think it dull?

Everyone journeys through character as well as through time. The person one becomes depends on the person one has been.

Writing a novel proved to be the hardest, most self-analyzing task I had ever attempted, far worse than an autobiography: and its rewards were greater than I expected.

Let an idea swim to the surface like a fish in a pool...let the mind drift to the vision.

People always kill Caesar. Don't trust anyone.

I guessed life was like that. You gained and you lost, and if you saved anything from the ruins, even if only a shred of self-respect, it was enough to take you through the next bit.

Some are born weird, some achieve it, others have weirdness thrust upon them.

Logic doesn't stop you feeling. You can behave logically and it can hurt like hell. Or it can comfort you. Or release you. Or all at the same time