Quotes from book

The Children of Men

“The Man Penal settlement. Do you know whats happening there? The murders, the starvation, the complete breakdown of law and order.”

“If from infancy you treat children as gods they are liable in adulthood to act as devils.”

“I don't think God bargains.”

“Use some reverence. Remember what he was only a minute ago. You wouldn't have dared laid a hand on him.”

“I knew that what I had felt was envy or regret, not for something lost but for something never achieved.”

“Oh yes he does. I may not be religious but I know my Bible. My mother saw to that. He bargains all right. But He's supposed to be just. If he wants belief He'd better provide some evidence.”

“When my turn comes I propose to take my lethal capsule comfortably in bed at home and preferably on my own.”

“I'm not a tyrant, but I can't afford to be merciful. Whatever it is necessary to do, I will do it.”

“I didn't love him, but I liked him being in love with me.”

“Darling, you can't promise that…but I like to hear you say it.”

“Generosity is a virtue for individuals, not Governments. When governments are generous it is with other people's money, other people's safety, other people's future.”

“Whatever else I am now, I'm never bored.”

“Perhaps His experiment went spectacularly wrong, sir. Perhaps He's just baffled. Seeing the mess, not knowing how to put it right. Perhaps not wanting to put it right. Perhaps He only had enough power left for one final intervention. So He made it. Whoever He is, whatever He is, I hope he burns in His own Hell.”

“We can experience nothing but the present moment, live in no other second of time, and to understand this is as close as we can get to eternal life.”

“We do. The question is, how do you?”

“We all die alone. We shall endure death as once we enjoyed birth. You can't share either experience.”

“I don't want to kill you.”