“The gain to the winner is always less than the loss to the loser.”

“Bond always mistrusted short men. They grew up from childhood with an inferiority complex. All their lives they would strive to be big - bigger than the others who had teased them as a child. Napoleon had been short, and Hitler. It was the short men that caused all the trouble in the world.”

“The conventional parabola--sentiment, the touch of the hand, the kiss, the passionate kiss, the feel of the body, the climax in the bed, then more bed, then less bed, then the boredom, the tears and the final bitterness--was to him shameful and hypocritical.”

“Why not make it for always?”

“It reads better than it lives”

“It’s just that I’d rather die of drink than of thirst.”

“Surround yourself with human beings, my dear James. They are easier to fight for than principles.”