James Hilton Quotes

In a small cathedral town where changes are few, there are always people who remember who used to live in a particular house, what happened to them there and afterwards, and so on. ~ James Hilton

When you are getting on in years it is nice to sit by the fire and drink a cup of tea and listen to the school bell sounding dinner, call-over, prep., and lights out. Chips always wound up the clock after that last bell; then he put the wire guard in front of the fire, turned out the gas, and carried a detective novel to bed. Rarely did he read more than a page of it before sleep came swiftly and peacefully, more like a mystic intensifying of perception than any changeful entrance into another world. For his days and nights were equally full of dreaming. ~ James Hilton

When it comes to believing things without actual evidence, we all incline to what we find most attractive. ~ James Hilton

You were contemplating the mountain, Mr. Conway?" Came the inquiry.
"Yes, it's a fine sight. It has a name, I suppose?"
"It is called Karakal"
"I don't think I've ever heard of it. Is is very high?"
"Over twenty-eight thousand feet."
"Indeed? I didn't realize there would be anything on that scale outside the Himalayas. Has it been properly surveyed? Whose are the measurements?"
"Whose would you expect, my dear sir? Is there anything incompatible between monasticism and trigonometry? ~ James Hilton

If you forgive people enough, you belong to them, and they to you, whether either person likes it or not - squatter's rights of the heart ~ James Hilton

Sometimes even the smallest of words can be the ones to hurt you, ~ James Hilton ( Cowboy)

His guests found it fun to watch him make tea
mixing careful spoonfuls from different caddies. ~ James Hilton

Have you ever been going somewhere with a crowd and you're certain it's the wrong road and you tell them, but they won't listen, so you just have to plod along in what you know is the wrong direction till somebody more important gets the same idea? ~ James Hilton

When you grow older you miss that eagerness; life may be happy, you may have health and wealth and love and success, but the odds are that you never look forward as you once did to a single golden day. You never count the hours to it, you never see some moment ahead beckoning like a goddess across a fourth dimension. ~ James Hilton

Brookfield will never forget his lovableness, said Cartwright, in a speech to the School. Which was absurd, because all things are forgotten in the end. ~ James Hilton

I used up most of my passions and energies during the years I've mentioned, and though I don't talk much about it, the chief thing I've asked from the world since then is to leave me alone. ~ James Hilton

Sometimes it seems difficult when life hurts you. "There is a darkness where there seems to be no hope just the feeling of being empty." "Just know there is so much more to life ."Just trust yourself, and you will know how to live. ~ James Hilton ( Cowboy)

The will of God or the lunacy of man - it seemed to him that you could take your choice, if you wanted a good enough reason for most things. Or, alternatively (and he thought of it as he contemplated the small orderliness of the cabin against the window background of such frantic natural scenery), the will of man and the lunacy of God. ~ James Hilton

People make mistakes in life through believing too much, but they have a damned dull time if they believe too little. ~ James Hilton

For London, Blampied claimed, was of all cities in the world the most autumnal - its mellow brickwork harmonizing with fallen leaves and October sunsets, just as the etched grays of November composed themselves with the light and shade of Portland stone. There was a charm, a deathless charm, about a city whose inhabitants went about muttering, "The nights are drawing in," as if it were a spell to invoke the vast, sprawling creature-comfort of winter. ~ James Hilton

In times of grief and sorrow. "When someone you love dies. "You will heal and you will be whole again but you will never be the same. "Their love never truly leaves you. "It live's inside you. ~ James Hilton ( Cowboy)

Then the whole range, much nearer now, paled into fresh splendor; a full moon rose, touching each peak in succession like some celestial lamplighter, until the long horizon glittered against a blue-black sky. ~ James Hilton

These examinations and certificates and so on--what did they matter? And all this efficiency and up-to-dateness--what did that matter, either? Ralston was trying to run Brookfield like a factory--a factory for turning out a snob culture based on money and machines. The old gentlemanly traditions of family and broad acres were changing, as doubtless they were bound to; but instead of widening them to form a genuine inclusive democracy of duke and dustman, Ralston was narrowing them upon the single issue of a fat banking account. There never had been so many rich men's sons at Brookfield. The Speech Day Garden Party was like Ascot. Ralston met these wealthy fellows in London clubs and persuaded them that Brookfield was the coming school, and, since they couldn't buy their way into Eton or Harrow, they greedily swallowed the bait. Awful fellows, some of them--though others were decent enough. Financiers, company promoters, pill manufacturers. One of them gave his son five pounds a week pocket money. Vulgar . . . ostentatious . . . all the hectic rotten-ripeness of the age. . . . And once Chips had got into trouble because of some joke he had made about the name and ancestry of a boy named Isaacstein. The boy wrote home about it, and Isaacstein père sent an angry letter to Ralston. Touchy, no sense of humor, no sense of proportion--that was the matter with them, these new fellows. . . . No sense of proportion. And it was a sense of proportion, above all things, that Brookfield ou ~ James Hilton

There's only one thing more important ... and that is, after you've done what you set out to do, to feel that it's been worth doing. ~ James Hilton

And I believe that the Binomial Theorem and a Bach Fugue are, in the long run, more important than all the battles of history. ~ James Hilton

When you are getting on in years (but not ill, of course), you get very sleepy at times, and the hours seem to pass like lazy cattle moving across a landscape. ~ James Hilton

If we have not found the heaven within,we have not found the heaven without ~ James Hilton

The jewel has facets," said the Chinese, "and it is possible that many religions are moderately true. ~ James Hilton

Miss Brinklow, however, was not yet to be sidetracked. "What do the lamas do?" she continued.
"They devote themselves, madam, to contemplation and to the pursuit of wisdom."
"But that isn't doing anything."
"Then, madam, they do nothing. ~ James Hilton

He was forty-eight - an age at which permanence of habits begins to be predictable. ~ James Hilton

For he did not, he would have said, care for women; he never felt at home or at ease with them; and that monstrous creature beginning to be talked about, the New Woman of the nineties, filled him with horror. He was a quiet, conventional person, and the world, viewed from the haven of Brookfield, seemed to him full of distasteful innovations; there was a fellow named Bernard Shaw who had the strangest and most reprehensible opinions; there was Ibsen, too, with his disturbing plays; and there was this new craze for bicycles which was being taken up by women equally with men. Chips did not hold with all this modern newness and freedom. He had a vague notion, if he ever formulated it, that nice women were weak, timid, and delicate, and that nice men treated them with a polite but rather distant chivalry. ~ James Hilton

If net neutrality goes away, it will fundamentally change everything about the Internet. ~ James Hilton

She really did possess a love for humanity, and the further removed humanity was, both in space and time, the more she loved it. ~ James Hilton

Where had they all gone to, he often pondered; those threads he had once held together, how far had they scattered, some to break, others to weave into unknown patterns? The strange randomness of the world beguiled him, that randomness which never would, so long as the world lasted, give meaning to those choruses again. ~ James Hilton

If I could put it into a very few words, dear sir, I should say that our prevalent belief is in moderation. We inculcate the virtue of avoiding excesses of all kinds - even including, if you will pardon the paradox, excess of virtue itself. ~ James Hilton

Life's more important than a living. So many people who make a living are making death, not life. Don't ever join them. They're the gravediggers of our civilization - The safe men. The compromisers. The moneymakers. The muddlers-through.
Politics is full of them ... so is businesses ... so is the church. They're popular. Successful. Some of them work hard, other are slack, but all of them could tell a good story.
Never where there such charming gravediggers in the world's history. ~ James Hilton

It does not do to dwell in the past and forget to live. ~ James Hilton ( Cowboy)

I love you. "Is not enough to make up for the pain that never heals and starts again at the slightest word. ~ James Hilton ( Cowboy)

It seemed to him that the little Manchu had never looked so radiant. She gave him a most charming smile, but her eyes were all for the boy. ~ James Hilton

The exhaustion of the passions is the beginning of wisdom. ~ James Hilton

For Chips, like some old sea captain, still measured time by the signals of the past ... ~ James Hilton

They didn't think there was anything very odd in anyone being a little odd. ~ James Hilton

I remember Mrs. Brool, whose photograph is still in the tuckshop; she served there until an uncle in Australia left her a lot of money. In fact, I remember so much that I often think I ought to write a book. Now what should I call it? 'Memories of Rod and Lines'--eh? [Cheers and laughter. That was a good one, people thought--one of Chips's best.] Well, well, perhaps I shall write it, some day. But I'd rather tell you about it, really. I remember . . . I remember . . . but chiefly I remember all your faces. I never forget them. I have thousands of faces in my mind--the faces of boys. If you come and see me again in years to come--as I hope you all will--I shall try to remember those older faces of yours, but it's just possible I shan't be able to--and then some day you'll see me somewhere and I shan't recognize you and you'll say to yourself, 'The old boy doesn't remember me.' [Laughter] But I do remember you--as you are now. That's the point. In my mind you never grow up at all. Never. Sometimes, for instance, when people talk to me about our respected Chairman of the Governors, I think to myself, 'Ah, yes, a jolly little chap with hair that sticks up on top--and absolutely no idea whatever about the difference between a Gerund and a Gerundive.' [Loud laughter] ~ James Hilton

Laziness in doing stupid things can be a great virtue
Chang - Lost Horizon (1933)
~ James Hilton

It is a fragile thing that can only live where fragile things are loved. ~ James Hilton

There are times in life when the most comfortable thing is to do nothing at all. Things happen to you and you just let them happen. ~ James Hilton

As most real writers do, he wrote because he had something to say, not because of any specific ambition to be a writer. ~ James Hilton

He was not much of a nature-worshipper, but he perceived that nature here was certainly at her best and liveliest. He gave her, as it were, full marks and a nod of approval, feeling that she would do very nicely as a background to his satisfying emotions ~ James Hilton

My friend, it is not an arduous task that I bequeath, for our order knows only silken bonds. To be gentle and patient, to care for the riches of the mind, to preside in wisdom and secrecy while the storm rages without - it will all be very pleasantly simple for you, and you will doubtless find great happiness. ~ James Hilton

You cannot judge the importance of things by the noise they make. ~ James Hilton

-why had she found the story so absorbing? Of course it was quite possible she hadn't. Maybe she merely preferred a novel
any novel
to reading a newspaper or chatting with the girls she worked with all day. And maybe she always read like that
with an air of having surrendered totally to a spell. ~ James Hilton

We have reason. It is the entire meaning and purpose of Shangri-La. It came to me in a vision long, long ago. I foresaw a time when man exalting in the technique of murder, would rage so hotly over the world, that every book, every treasure would be doomed to destruction. This vision was so vivid and so moving that I determined to gather together all things of beauty and culture that I could and preserve them here against the doom toward which the world is rushing. Look at the world today. Is there anything more pitiful? What madness there is! What blindness! A scurrying mass of bewildered humanity crashing headlong against each other. The time must come, my friend, when brutality and the lust for power must perish by its own sword. For when that day comes, the world must begin to look for a new life. And it is our hope that they may find it here. ~ James Hilton

Is there not too much tension in the world at present, and might it not be better if more people were slackers? ~ James Hilton

Firstly, the Azerbaijanian struggle for a measure of autonomy and self-government is genuine and is locally inspired. The facts of history and existing conditions show that Azerbaijan has always been struggling to overthrow the feudal conditions imposed upon it (and upon the rest of Iran) by corrupt Iranian Governments.
Secondly, the extent of Russian interference appeared to be negligible. In our travels we saw few Russian troops, and in Kurdistan we saw none at all. The leaders of the Azerbaijanian Government are not Russians but Azerbaijanians, and with few exceptions their sole aim seems to be the recovery and improvement and economic reform of Azerbaijan. There may be some Russian influence by indirect means, but I would suggest that it is less than our own influence in Iran which we exercise by direct control of ministers, political parties, state financiers, and by petty bribery.
As for Kurdish Independence. The Kurds ask for an independence of their own making, not an independence sponsored by the British Government. Like the Azerbaijanians the Kurds are seeking real autonomy, and more than that, self-determination. Our present scheme to take them over and use them as a balancing factor in the political affairs of the Middle East is a reflection upon the honest of our intentions, and a direct blow at the spirit of all good men. ~ James Aldridge

Keel-mounted rail gun," Alex said with a grin. " - that scream of overcompensating for tiny, tiny penises, but might prove useful. ~ James S.A. Corey

It's one thing to fight for what you believe in, another thing to fight for what others believe in. ~ James Wolcott

One-third of all female infertility is the result of blocked fallopian tubes. If fertilization could be done in the lab and then the fertilized egg implanted in the womb, it would get around that problem. Millions of women who cannot have children would suddenly be able to. ~ James D. Watson

Charles Tavis knows what James Incandenza could not have cared about less: the key to the successful administration of a top-level junior tennis academy lies in cultivating a kind of reverse-Buddhism, a state of Total Worry. ~ David Foster Wallace

I don't need other people. I don't need help. I can take care of me. ~ James Stewart

I was brought up by my grandparents. So people go, 'Oh, what was that like? That must have been hard.' And you go: 'No, it wasn't.' It was just completely actually normal because the new norm seems to be whatever you make of it, doesn't it? ~ James McAvoy

The entity God created to traffic His transcendence has fallen far from its mission when it chooses instead to traffic what can be found on any street corner or at the local mall. You may ask, "But how has the church done that?"
* By offering secularists what they find mildly interesting and calling it church.
*By submitting to self-help sermons where encounter with God is not even on the agenda.
* By letting the horizontal excellence of the show stand in for Vertical impact.
*By substituting the surprise or shock of superficial entertainment for the supernatural.
Church was designed to deliver what we were created to long for. Church must again be about a Vertical encounter that interrupts and alters everything. ~ James MacDonald

In everyday things the law of sacrifice takes the form of positive duty. ~ James Anthony Froude

Tomorrow," Minho added. "Somehow, some way. ~ James Dashner

Superior strength is found in the long run to lie with those who had right on their side. ~ James Anthony Froude

Do you really feel like this or do you think you ought to feel like this? ~ E.L. James

Unless I love something or hate it, I don't want to deal with it. ~ James Caan

Take every gain without showing remorse about missed profits, because an eel may escape sooner than you think. ~ James De La Vega

I believe that conservative solutions can help families of every race, every economic background, and every town in Oklahoma. ~ James Lankford

When God's goodness touches our lives, it's called "grace. ~ James Randall Robison

If it's commercial fiction that you want to write, it's story, story, story. You've got to get a story where if you tell it to somebody in a paragraph, they'll go, "Tell me more." And then when you start to write it, they continue to want to read more. And if you don't, it won't work. ~ James Patterson

Nothing should be worshipped [sic] that has form or is individuated. The universal Divine Life is alone to be worshipped. There is no colorless pantheism in this concept; for the God of each man is one with the universal God: the Conqueror obtains the Universe, not by being absorbed and obliterated by it, but by transcending the limitations of his individual consciousness and partaking of the universal Divine Consciousness. As an individual he loses nothing but his imperfections, but he gains the All, the "Origin and the Perfection." And this is Seership, which is not "prophecy," "second sight" or sense-perception on any plane of consciousness, but is Direct Cognition of Reality. ~ James Morgan Pryse

There was literally, in the ebbing . . . an extraordinarily sweet sadness. ~ Henry James

As life runs on, the road grows strange with faces new - and near the end. The milestones into headstones change, Neath every one a friend. ~ James Russell Lowell

Even as a child Gates had an obsessive personality and a compulsive need to be the best. "Any school assignment, be it playing a musical instrument or writing papers, whatever, he would do at any or all hours of the day". ~ James Wallace

Surely with as good reason as had Archimedes to have the cylinder, cone and sphere engraved on his tombstone might our distinguished countrymen leave testamentary directions for the cubic eikosiheptagram to be engraved on theirs. Spirit of the Universe! wither are we drifting, and when, where, and how is all this to end? ~ James Joseph Sylvester

It'll be all of our efforts together. It won't won't ever be exactly the way I imagined it. And that is, I think, an important lesson as well, is that in any group enterprise it's going to be the sum total of the group. ~ James Cameron

I want to learn - there's so much I have to learn about what it takes to be a recording artist, about what it takes to go on tour. ~ James Wolpert

Are you in Portland on business? I ask, and my voice is too high, like I've got my finger trapped in a door or something. Damn! Try to be cool, Ana! ~ E.L. James

My best friends are still the ones I first attached myself to when I went to school because, all of a sudden, I was leaving the rather pampered and occasionally very annoying world of having three older sisters to go to a male-dominated world. ~ James Nesbitt

My family is my career. ~ James McBride

If we fix the Breaks, you won't have to deal with that anymore. Saving the world sounds great, but it's not a bad deal that we get to save ourselves in the bargain.
- Riq ~ James Dashner

It's hard to find a way forward. When you're 18 it happens in huge chunks every day, but after 20 years, growth is much more costly. ~ James Taylor

You'll have the right to be angry about Vault 7 only after you boycott dragnet surveillance data providers like Google, Microsoft, Skype, Facebook and LinkedIn. The true threat is coming from the private sector surveillance profiteers. ~ James Scott, Senior Fellow, Institute For Critical Infrastructure Technology

There was a proposal in California that would keep out Wal-Mart but allow Costco. You opposed it. Are you nuts? That's true: I always oppose these kinds of things. Competition makes us better. Some of our best stores have a Sam's Club next door. ~ James Sinegal

A man of character in peace is a man of courage in war. ~ James Glover

Let each man think himself an act of God, His mind a thought, his life a breath of God; And let each try, by great thoughts and good deeds, To show the most of Heaven he hath in him. ~ Philip James Bailey

He was trapped in a haircut he no longer believed in.

- King James Version ~ Billy Bragg

Will his work survive? Alas, I worry it will not. As an American liberal with impeccable credentials, I would like to say that political correctness is going to kill American liberalism if it is not fought to the death by people like me for the dangers it presents to free speech, to the exchange of ideas, to openheartedness, or to the spirit of art itself. Political correctness has a stranglehold on academia, on feminism, and on the media. It is a form of both madness and bigotry, and has already silenced the voices of writers like James Dickey across the land. ~ Pat Conroy

Man alone of animals plays the ape to his dreams . ~ James Branch Cabell

The power to gossip is more democratically distributed than power, property, and income, and, certainly, than the freedom to speak openly. ~ James C. Scott

There is a distinct difference between having an open mind and having a hole in your head from which your brain leaks out. ~ James Randi

We've staked our future on our ability to follow the Ten Commandments with all our heart. ~ James Madison

The more important factors are a man's perseverance, his ability to innovate and think of new ideas, to be willing to adapt to changing conditions, to push almost tirelessly at a task or several at a time, during the difficult seasons as well as the prosperous. Certainly a man may be all these on his own, and succeed, wife or no – but to have a wife who possessed these qualities, who could bring out in her husband such steadiness and strength of character by her example and unyielding affection… The worth of such a wife is immeasurable. - James Laurence to his grandson, Laurie ~ Trix Wilkins