"‘These people,’ Cicero complained to me one morning, ‘are a warning of what happens to any state which has a permanent staff of officials. They begin as our servants and end up imagining themselves our masters!’"

Robert Harris, Imperium (2006)

"The art of life is to deal with problems as they arise, rather than destroy one’s spirit by worrying about them too far in advance."

Robert Harris, Imperium (2006)

"Politics is a country idiot, and capable of concentrating on only one thing at a time."

Robert Harris, Imperium (2006)

"Power brings a man many luxuries, but a clean pair of hands is seldom among them."

Robert Harris, Imperium (2006)

"Consider what we have seen this week - the empty, senseless shells of those we loved - and think what a terrible audit Death lays upon a man. […] Well, I tell you, for my part, I do not propose to die leaving one ounce of talent unspent, or one mile of energy left in my legs."

Robert Harris, Imperium (2006)

"He had had to set up a property company an buy the goddamn place off its owners, the former KGB, although that hadn’t been too hard because Mamantov had plenty of friends at the Lubyanka who, in return for a percentage, were happy to sell state assets for a fraction of their value. Some might call it corruption, or even robbery. He preferred the western term: privatisation."

Robert Harris, Archangel (1998)

Currently reading (actually just finished, but whatever).

"If you are afraid of wolves, keep out of the woods."

Joseph Stalin (1936) in Robert Harris’ Archangel (1998).

Currently reading.