Aleksey Furst Quotes

I look at him questioningly. "I don't know anything about you."
The cop looks down at himself and smiles wickedly. "You know my feet are big. What else is left to know? ~ Mya Robarts

You can't make accommodations in crucial situations and be heroic. ~ Alan Furst

Yes, I'm a reasonably good self-taught historian of the 1930s and '40s. I've never wanted to write about another time or place. I wouldn't know what to say about contemporary society. ~ Alan Furst

People know accuracy when they read it; they can feel it. ~ Alan Furst

Seattle's support system got me through those early, difficult years. It was a very funky, very friendly, very relaxed place that had it all for a writer. ~ Alan Furst

Now he experienced a feeling akin to that of a man whom while calmly crossing a bridge over a precipice, should suddenly discover that the bridge is broken, and that there is a chasm below. That chasm was life itself, the bridge that artificial life in which Aleksey Aleksandrovich had lived. ~ Leo Tolstoy

The way to deal with the devil of obesity and diabetes is literally one day at a time. ~ Stephen Furst

crossed borders like the wind. Yet it had happened, and Khristo finally understood how it had happened. Moving across the countryside made one prey, over time, to a series of small mishaps, none of them serious in and of itself, but cumulative over time. A few hours of sleep when one could manage it, a meal now and then, the insidious chill of the early spring, the constant forcing of the mind into a state of vigilance when all one craved was numbness, when not to think about anything seemed the most exquisite luxury the world had to offer. ~ Alan Furst

Spy novels are traditionally about lone wolves, but how many people actually live like that? ~ Alan Furst

Once you have your characters, they tell you what to write, you don't tell them. ~ Alan Furst

When we sit in meditation, we are closer than usual to the world as it is. By simply bringing body, breath, and mind together in the present moment, we touch Buddha; we touch reality, and we are in the world as it is. Most people's experience in this state is peaceful and rejuvenating. ~ Andrew Furst

You have to have heart's passion to write a novel. ~ Alan Furst

A certain type - he knew them all too well from years of experience as a detective, he knew how they acted, how they spoke, how their minds worked. These were people who would do anything to win at what they saw as the game of life, who had no allegiance to anyone or anything beyond themselves, who were gifted liars, who could scheme their way into almost anyone's confidence, then betray them without hesitation. ~ Alan Furst

They drove on, through pretty Schwabisch villages. Every one of them had its Christbaum, a tall evergreen in the center of town, with candles lit as darkness fell, and a star on top. There were also candles in every window, and red-berried holly weaths hung on the doors. By the side of the road, at the entry to each village, stood a sign attacking the Jews. This was, Mercier thought, a kind of competition, for none of the signs were the same. Juden dirfen nicht bleiben - 'Jews must not stay here' - was followed by Wer die Juden unterstuzt fordert den Kommunissmus, 'Who helps the Jews helps communism,' then the dramatic 'This flat-footed stranger, with kinky hair and hooked nose, he shall not our land enjoy, he must leave, he must leave. ~ Alan Furst

The first thing I did on my diet was take the batteries out of the remote control and make myself get up and change the channel. That's probably the hardest exercise I did. ~ Stephen Furst

I'll make a diet cheesecake, but I'll put it in a Sara Lee box. Or I'll have a huge bowl of pasta, but it's actually just a cup of pasta - the rest is vegetables. It makes me feel less deprived. ~ Stephen Furst

I just became what I call an 'anti-fascist novelist.' There is no word that covers both the fascists and the Communists, which mean different things to people, but of course they're the same: they're tyranny states. ~ Alan Furst

Woak up. Got dresd. Had brekfast. Spoke wif Ergates thi ant who sed itz juss been wurk wurk wurk 4 u lately master Bascule, Y dont u ½ a holiday? & I agreed & that woz how we decided we otter go 2 c Mr Zoliparia in thi I-ball ov thi gargoyle Rosbrith.
I fot Id bettir clear it wif thi relevint oforities furst & hens avoyd any truble (like happind thi lastime) so I went 2 c mentor Scalopin.
Certinly yung Bascule, he sez, i do beleave this is a day ov relativly lite dooties 4 u u may take it off. ½ u made yoor mattins calls?
O yes, I sed, which woznt stricktly tru, in fact which woz pretti strikly untru, trufe btold, but I cude always do them while we woz travelin. ~ Iain M. Banks

The only way you can handle big kinds of questions is to simply state briefly what the truth was. What am I going to tell you about the Holocaust? Would you like three pages about it? I don't think you would ... I don't think anything different than you think - it was horrible. ~ Alan Furst

I had a publishing history of murder mysteries. ~ Alan Furst

One is what one has the nerve to pretend to be. ~ Alan Furst

Whether you like it or not, Paris is the beating heart of Western civilisation. It's where it all began and ended. ~ Alan Furst

I was as you are now. A peasant. I sought the world. Because the alternative was to spend the rest of my life looking up a plowhorse's backside. ~ Alan Furst

For something that's supposed to be secret, there is a lot of intelligence history. Every time I read one book, two more are published. ~ Alan Furst

In the 1930s, there were so many different conflicts going on between the British, the French, the Russians, the Germans, the Spaniards, the Romanians and so on. ~ Alan Furst

when at last they'd had to admit to themselves that they'd made all the love they could, had been a last meal. Like ~ Alan Furst

This year, of course, being 1936, there would be no figs. ~ Alan Furst

When I was a child, I used to eat sugar Frosted Flakes with chocolate milk, but I digest, I mean digress. ~ Stephen Furst

What you get in the Cold War is 'the wilderness of mirrors' where you have to figure out what's good and what's evil. That's good for John le Carre, but not me. ~ Alan Furst

I'm not really a mass market writer. ~ Alan Furst

The magic is you can change more things than you could ever dream of. ~ Stephen Furst

One of the key things I did to stay on my diet is I never allowed myself to get hungry. As soon as I got hungry, I'd eat healthy foods. ~ Stephen Furst

I was able to turn to classical music many people, who saw my programs live and on YouTube, and this is one of the nicest achievements I can have. ~ Aleksey Igudesman

When we meditate we are dancing with each moment. Just like the very first dance we remember: We are self-conscious, but eager. We hope for a connection, but we're cautious of intimacy. ~ Andrew Furst

When a diplomat says 'yes' he means 'maybe.' When a diplomat says 'maybe' he means 'no.' But if a diplomat says 'no' he's no diplomat. ~ Alan Furst

If you're a writer, you're always working. ~ Alan Furst

I don't just want my books to be about the '30s and '40s. I want them to read as if they had been written then. I think of them as '40s novels, written in the conservative narrative past. ~ Alan Furst

I don't inflict horrors on readers. ~ Alan Furst

It made her - a bizarre trick - long for a past that was still in the future. ~ Alan Furst

Eric Roberts, for all the criticism he gets, is at least having fun with the script. His decision to devour large swaths of scenery locate him firmly in the tradition of Graham Crowden and Joseph Furst. Which is to say that he's not destined for fan acclaim, but he's easy to like if you're of the mind to. ~ Phillip Sandifer