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Some are born weird, some achieve it, others have weirdness thrust upon them.
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weirdness
paraphrased
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Dick Francis |
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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.
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life
profession
job
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Dick Francis |
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In other words, our opinions and our thoughts and feelings, anything we experience, need not define us forever.
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Nicholas Sparks / Barbara Delinsky / Dick Francis / Glenn Meade |
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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.
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risk
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Dick Francis |
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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.
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life
self-respect
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Dick Francis |
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But one discarded dreams and got dressed, and made what one could of the day.
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life
endurance
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Dick Francis |
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But what do you say if you're asked a direct question and you can't tell the truth and you can't tell a lie?' 'You say "how very interesting" and change the subject."
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truth
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Dick Francis |
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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.
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Dick Francis |
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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
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Dick Francis |
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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.
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Dick Francis |
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May I deal with honour May I act with courage May I achieve humility
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Dick Francis |
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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.
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life
survival
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Dick Francis |
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The dignity of man was everywhere tissue-paper thin.
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Dick Francis |
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one should never assume anything
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wisdom
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Dick Francis |
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I hadn't had a mother since I was two, and from then until seven I had believed God was someone who had run off with her and was living with her somewhere else... (God took your mother, dear, because he needed her more than you do) which had never endeared him to me
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Dick Francis |
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It's people with obsessions who do the real harm in the world.
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Dick Francis |
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Look at everything upside down.Take absolutely nothing for granted.
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Dick Francis |
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The bad scorn the good . . . and the crooked despise the straight." ~Greville"
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Dick Francis |
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Yet all we had was here and now, and here and now was always where the struggle toward goodness had to be fought. Toward virtue, morality, uprightness, order: call it what one liked. A long ever-recurring battle.
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Dick Francis |
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To be logical you have to dig up and face your own hidden motives and emotions, and of course they're hidden principally because you don't want to face them. So...um...it's easier to let your basement feelings run the upper storeys, so to speak, and the result is quarrels, love, opinions, anorexia, philanthropy... almost anything you can think of. I just like to know what's going on down there, to pick out why I truly want to do things, tha..
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Dick Francis |
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Never ever make a joke to the police, they have no sense of humour. Never make a political joke, it will always be considered an insult. Always remember that umbrage can be taken by the lift of an eyebrow. Remember that if offence can possibly be taken, it will be.
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offence
joke
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Dick Francis |
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Mrs Palissey and I tended to have the same conversations over and over and slightly too often.
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repetitive
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Dick Francis |
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People always kill Caesar. Don't trust anyone.
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trust
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Dick Francis |
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If ever you get invited into someone's home,' my father said (as he had been invited five or six times that morning), 'you go into the sitting-room and you say, "Oh, what an attractive room!" even if you think it's hideous."
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politicians
politeness
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Dick Francis |
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She said several times that Malcollm was a fiend who was determined to destroy his children, and that I was the devil incarnate helping him. She hoped we would both rot in hell. (I thought devils and fiends might flourish there, actually.)
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Dick Francis |
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He gave me a last dark look, not admitting defeat,not giving an inch .I watched him with unexpected regret. Watched him until the consciousness went out of his eyes and they were simply open but seeing nothing.
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Dick Francis |
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I waved back and went in, and began to sort my way through ancient building plans that had been rolled up so long that straightening them out was like six bouts with an octopus.
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humor
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Dick Francis |
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Silly,' he said with mock serenity, 'isn't a word you should ever apply to people. They may be totally stupid, in fact, but if you call them silly you've lost their vote.
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stupidity
silliness
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Dick Francis |
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In the context of ten thousand years, I thought, what did Filmer and his sins matter? Yet all we had was here and now, and here and now was always where the struggle toward goodness had to be fought. Toward virtue, morality, uprightness, order: call it what one liked. A long, ever-recurring battle.
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Dick Francis |
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I gazed at him. He was old enough to know that few things were fair. Most five-year-olds had already discovered it.
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Dick Francis |
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Chick forced himself to turn his head away, to walk in view of that window, to take the ten exposed steps down to the chestnut's stall.
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Dick Francis |
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Thought before action, if you have time
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Dick Francis |
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Reason said it was wasn't long enough. Instinct said it was.
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Dick Francis |
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their water and hay, hours lying awake at night listening to the stamp of the horses below and the snores and mumblings from the row of beds. Over and over again I thought my way through all I had seen or read or heard since I came to England: and what emerged as most significant was the performance of Superman at Stafford. He had been doped: he was the twelfth of the series: but he had not
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Dick Francis |
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unexpected regret. Watched him until the consciousness went out of his eyes, and they were simply open but seeing nothing.
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Dick Francis |
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Tyrants come and go, tyranny is constant.
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Dick Francis |
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Gawd, he thought furiously, he hadn't expected it to be like this. Just a lousy walk down the yard to give a carrot to the gangly chestnut. Guilt and fear and treachery. They bypassed his sneering mind and erupted through his nerves instead.
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Dick Francis |
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Lightheartedness was a treasure in a world too full of sorrows, a treasure little regarded and widely forfeited to agression, greed and horrendous tribal rituals.
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truth-of-life
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Dick Francis |
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ones. I could see that I would be inevitably eased out, and not by doubt but by concern.
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Dick Francis |
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I smiled into the clever eyes. "Find out for me," I said, "whether Oliver"
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Dick Francis |
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The house was dark. Upstairs, behind the black open window with the pale curtain flapping in the spartan air, slept Arthur Morrison, trainer of the forty-three racehorses in the stables below. Morrison habitually slept lightly. His ears were sharper than half a dozen guard dogs', his stable-hands said.
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Dick Francis |
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Impulses like that, I answered myself, that seemed to come from nowhere, they weren't really impulses at all, they were decisions already made but waiting for an opportunity to be spoken aloud.
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Dick Francis |
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and thought of Peter and the
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Dick Francis |
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the Gold
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Dick Francis |