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769f618
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People make mistakes in life through believing too much, but they have a damned dull time if they believe too little.
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people
viewpoint
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James Hilton |
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03f3e4f
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The right mixture of caring and not caring - I suppose that's what love is.
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love
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James Hilton |
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85b99ab
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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?
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life
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James Hilton |
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3ab4891
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if we have not found the heaven within,we have not found the heaven without
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James Hilton |
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b1b0fa9
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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.
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James Hilton |
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8b21d4f
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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.
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James Hilton |
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8fc405e
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We believe that to govern perfectly it is necessary to avoid governing too much.
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political
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James Hilton |
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1af0b99
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Is there not too much tension in the world at present, and might it not be better if more people were slackers?
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James Hilton |
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3110bc2
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But now I'm beginning to care again--a little--and it hurts--it's really more convenient not to have any hopes and fears.
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James Hilton |
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be33760
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What a host of little incidents, all deep-buried in the past -- problems that had once been urgent, arguments that had once been keen, anecdotes that were funny only because one remembered the fun. Did any emotion really matter when the last trace of it had vanished from human memory; and if that were so, what a crowd of emotions clung to him as to their last home before annihilation? He must be kind to them, must treasure them in his mind ..
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James Hilton |
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c42bf00
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The first quarter-century of your life was doubtless lived under the cloud of being too young for things, while the last quarter-century would normally be shadowed by the still darker cloud of being too old for them; and between those two clouds, what small and narrow sunlight illumines a human lifetime!
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James Hilton |
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8265e31
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Laziness in doing stupid things can be a great virtue
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James Hilton |
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d6daffc
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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."
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James Hilton |
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a40902f
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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 wh..
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James Hilton |
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d61f069
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It is significant ..... that the English regard slackness as a vice. We, on the other hand, should vastly prefer it to tension. Is there not too much tension in the world at present, and might it not be better if more people were slackers?
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James Hilton |
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98c8d10
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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
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James Hilton |
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7f606aa
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they didn't think there was anything very odd in anyone being a little odd.
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odd
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James Hilton |
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a85e6b2
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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."
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James Hilton |
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26fbf04
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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.
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love
shangri-la
lost
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James Hilton |
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1513116
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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.
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James Hilton |
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c39ea37
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It's a very remarkable story." "Remarkable's a well-chosen word. It doesn't give you away." --
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story
review
remarkable
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James Hilton |
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cdd6363
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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 ..
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James Hilton |
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e6ac281
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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, the will of man and the lunacy of God.
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James Hilton |
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21ebf13
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As most real writers do, he wrote because he had something to say, not because of any specific ambition to be a writer.
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James Hilton |
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95fc379
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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 ..
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winter
october
november
london
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James Hilton |
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730e7b3
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For Chips, like some old sea captain, still measured time by the signals of the past. . . .
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James Hilton |
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6405f5d
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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.
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nature
quote
moon
lost-horizon
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James Hilton |
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4ed2bdd
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He had, in fact, already begun to sink into that creeping dry rot of pedagogy which is the worst and ultimate pitfall of the profession; giving the same lessons year after year had formed a groove into which the other affairs of his life adjusted themselves with insidious ease. He worked well; he was conscientious; he was a fixture that gave service, satisfaction, confidence, everything except inspiration.
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James Hilton |
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00402e8
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And so it stood, a warm and vivid patch in his life, casting a radiance that glowed in a thousand recollections.
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James Hilton |
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41b56e3
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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.
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philosophy
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James Hilton |
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854574c
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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.
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James Hilton |
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f6ce7bb
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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 ..
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men
women
society
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James Hilton |
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6c13abb
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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.
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James Hilton |
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1b77a6a
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His guests found it fun to watch him make tea -- mixing careful spoonfuls from different caddies.
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James Hilton |
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49227fb
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And sometimes, when the bell rang for call-over, he would go to the window and look across the road and over the School fence and see, in the distance, the thin line of boys filing past the bench. New times, new names . . . but the old ones still remained . . . Jefferson, Jennings, Jolyon, Jupp, Kingsley Primus, Kingsley Secundus, Kingsley Tertius, Kingston . . . where are you all, where have you all gone to?
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James Hilton |
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80f6f05
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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 duk..
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James Hilton |
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334cd4c
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I shall be very deeply interested--in due course.
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James Hilton |
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ee7c15d
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My goodness, if you think of all the folks in the world who'd give all they've got to be out of the racket and in a place like this, only they can't out! Are in the prison or are ?
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James Hilton |
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8ee9347
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One had to breathe consciously and deliberately, which, though disconcerting at first, induced after a time an almost ecstatic tranquility of mind. The whole body moved in a single rhythm of breathing, walking, and thinking, the lungs, no longer discrete and automatic, were disciplined to harmony with mind and limb.
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James Hilton |
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c26a6d1
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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 rem..
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James Hilton |
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9180981
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On the night before the wedding, when Chips left the house to return to his hotel, she said, with mock gravity: "This is an occasion, you know--this last farewell of ours. I feel rather like a new boy beginning his first term with you. Not scared, mind you--but just, for once, in a thoroughly respectful mood. Shall I call you 'sir'--or would 'Mr. Chips' be the right thing? 'Mr. Chips,' I think. Good-bye, then--good-bye, Mr. Chips. . . ."
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James Hilton |
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51d782b
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Laziness in doing stupid things can be a great virtue...
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virtue
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James Hilton |
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0ac63ba
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He was, and he knew it, very quietly in love with the little Manchu. His love demanded nothing, not even reply; it was a tribute of the mind, to which his senses added only a flavor.
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James Hilton |
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49265ef
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He was forty-eight -- an age at which permanence of habits begins to be predictable.
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habits
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James Hilton |