Nevil Shute

You did not die when you were drawing public assistance money, but you certainly did not remain alive.

I didn't wait to see her ship go off, because partings are stupid things and best got over quickly

People who spent the war in prison camps have written a lot of books about what a bad time they had, she said quietly, staring into the embers. they don't know what it was like, not being in a camp.

it was so beautiful', he said. 'the Three Pagodas Pass must be one of the loveliest places in the world. you've got this broad valley with the river running down it, and the jungle forest, and the mountains....we used to sit by the river and watch the sun setting behind the mountains, sometimes, and say what a marvellous place it would be to come to for a holiday. however terrible a prison camp may be, it makes a difference if its beautiful.

Maybe we've been too silly to deserve a world like this.

You could have done something with newspapers. We didn't do it. No nation did, because we were all too silly. We liked our newspapers with pictures of beach girls and headlines about cases of indecent assault, and no Government was wise enough to stop us having them that way. But something might have been done with newspapers, if we'd been wise enough.

You cannot argue stupidity, you just have to accept it patiently as one of those things.

If what they say is right we're none of us going to have time to do all that we planned to do. But we can keep on doing it as long as we can.

There's no dignity, no decency, or health today for men that haven't got a job. All other things depend on work today.

It was a gambler's action, but his whole life had probably been made up of gambles; it could hardly be otherwise in the outback.