Quotes from book
The Comedians

The Comedians
Graham Greene

The Comedians is a novel by Graham Greene. Set in Haiti under the rule of François "Papa Doc" Duvalier and his secret police, the Tonton Macoute, the novel explores the political suppression and terrorism through the figure of an English hotel owner, Brown.

Graham Greene photo

“Like some wines our love could neither mature nor travel.”

Graham Greene book The Comedians

Source: The Comedians

Graham Greene photo

“We mustn’t complain too much of being comedians—it’s an honourable profession. If only we could be good ones the world might gain at least a sense of style. We have failed—that’s all. We are bad comedians, we aren’t bad men.”

Graham Greene book The Comedians

Pt. 1, ch. 5, sct. 2
The Comedians (1966)

Graham Greene photo

“I have often noticed that a bribe…has that effect — it changes a relation. The man who offers a bribe gives away a little of his own importance; the bribe once accepted, he becomes the inferior, like a man who has paid for a woman.”

Graham Greene book The Comedians

Pt. 1, ch. 4, sct. 3
The Comedians (1966)

Graham Greene photo

“However great a man’s fear of life, suicide remains the courageous act, the clear-headed act of a mathematician. The suicide has judged by the laws of chance—so many odds against one that to live will be more miserable than to die. His sense of mathematics is greater than his sense of survival. But think how a sense of survival must clamour to be heard at the last moment, what excuses it must present of a totally unscientific nature.”

Graham Greene book The Comedians

Pt. 1, ch. 4, sct. 1
The Comedians (1966)

Graham Greene photo

“Communism, my friend, is more than Marxism, just as Catholicism … is more than the Roman Curia. There is a mystique as well as a politique…. Catholics and communists have commited great crimes, but at least they have not stood aside, like an established society, and been indifferent. I would rather have blood on my hands than water like Pilate…if you have abandoned one faith, do not abandon all faith. There is always an alternative to the faith we lose. Or is it the same faith under another mask?”

Graham Greene book The Comedians

Pt. 2, ch. 4, sct. 4
The Comedians (1966)

Graham Greene photo

“Cynicism is cheap—you can buy it at any Monoprix store—it’s built into all poor-quality goods.”

Graham Greene book The Comedians

Pt. 1, ch. 1, sct. 3
The Comedians (1966)

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