“Christopher discovered that you dealt with obnoxious masters and most older boys the way you dealt with governesses: you quite politely told them the truth in the way they wanted to hear it, so that they thought they had won and left you in peace.”

“Reuven, as you grow older you will discover that the most important things that will happen to you will often come as a result of silly things, as you call them— "ordinary things" is a better expression. That is the way the world is.”

“They had parted as boys, and now life presented one of them with a fugitive and the other with a dying man. Both wondered whether this was due to the cards they'd been dealt or to the way they had played them.”

“When you want to help people, you tell them the truth. When you want to help yourself, you tell them what they want to hear.”

“Suppose you had the revolution you are talking and dreaming about. Suppose your side had won, and you had the kind of society you wanted. How would you live, you personally, in that society? Start living that way now! Whatever you would do then, do it now. When you run up against obstacles, people, or things that won't let you live that way, then begin to think about how to get over or around or under that obstacle, or how it push it out of the way, and your politics will be concrete and practical.”

“I've always thought there are two ways of getting what you wanted in life. Forcing people to give it to you, or making them want to give it to you.”

“His strength was as a thinker and a writer, a man of honour, with great moral courage. He had a way with people, enormous charm, integrity and character. He was self-possessed, had a good strong voice, and won the confidence of those who dealt with him.”

“She dealt with moral problems the way a cleaver deals with meat: and in this case she had made up her mind.”

“I have discovered in life that there are ways of getting almost anywhere you want to go, if you really want to go.”

“I know you look both ways before you cross the street, but I want you to look both ways a second time, because I told you to.”