“The people of the United States are entitled to assume that their President is telling the truth. The pattern of misrepresentation and half-truths that emerges from our investigation reveals a presidential policy cynically based on the premise that the truth itself is negotiable.”
― Bob Woodward, quote from The Final Days
“Buzhardt was not sure, but he would check. He discerned that the President was extremely concerned about the gap, but there was something evasive in Nixon’s approach, something disturbing about his reaction. To Buzhardt, he seemed to be suggesting alternative explanations for the lawyer’s benefit, speculating on various excuses as if to say, “Well, couldn’t we go with one of those versions?” Buzhardt prided himself on being able to tell when the President was lying. Usually it wasn’t difficult. Nixon was perhaps the most transparent liar he had ever met. Almost invariably when the President lied, he would repeat himself, sometimes as often as three times—as if he were trying to convince himself. But this time Buzhardt couldn’t tell. One moment he thought Nixon was responsible, at another he suspected Woods. Maybe both of them had done it. One thing seemed fairly certain: it was no accident.”
― Bob Woodward, quote from The Final Days
“By late October, after Cox had been fired, Kissinger’s anxieties about the President had become more acute. “Sometimes I get worried,” he said. “The President is like a madman.” Kissinger was deeply pessimistic. He had looked to the second Nixon administration as a once-in-a-century opportunity to build a new American foreign policy, to achieve new international structures based on unquestioned American strength, détente with the Soviets and China, a closer bond with Europe. It seemed no longer possible. Watergate was shattering the illusion of American strength, he said, and with it American foreign policy.”
― Bob Woodward, quote from The Final Days
“their hearts in it. It was well”
― Bob Woodward, quote from The Final Days
“Why have the Soviets stood aside and allowed us to settle Berlin, Vietnam and the Middle East? One, because the United States is big, mean and tough as hell and they know it. Two, the obsession with peace in the USSR. Twenty million Russian people were killed during World War II. We must have the fear elements working, but also the hope element.”
― Bob Woodward, quote from The Final Days
“Elliot,” the President pleaded with him as the Attorney General entered, “Brezhnev wouldn’t understand if I didn’t fire Cox after all this.” Nixon urged Richardson to delay.”
― Bob Woodward, quote from The Final Days
“Always remember, others may hate you—but those who hate you don’t win unless you hate them, and then you destroy yourself.”
― Bob Woodward, quote from The Final Days
“Theater, I suppose, is a form of mass mesmerism, and if that’s the case, Shakespeare, despite his chemical shortcomings, was surely one of the greatest hypnotists who ever lived.”
― Alan Bradley, quote from I Am Half-Sick of Shadows
“Sometimes your destiny takes you to dark places where you'd rather not be, but destiny, as they say, is destiny.”
― Jasper Fforde, quote from The Last Dragonslayer
“Инамура-сан дори не подозираше, че Тикако иска да я покаже на Кикудзи. Съвсем спокойно тя му приготви чая и без всякакво смущение подаде чашката на Кикудзи. След като отпи от нея, той започна да й се любува. Това беше черна чашка. От едната й страна имаше ивица бяла глазура, върху която с черно бе нарисувано стръкче от папрат.
— Би трябвало да я помните — каза Тикако.
— Да, да — замислено отговори Кикудзи и отпусна ръката, в която държеше чашката.
— Това стръкче папрат създава усещането за планинска местност. Чашката е подходяща за чайна церемония в началото на пролетта и баща ви обичаше да пие от нея през същия сезон. Въпреки че вече е малко късно за нея, предлагам ви я, защото си помислих, че ще ви бъде приятно да я подържите в ръце.
— Баща ми твърде кратко време е притежавал тази чашка. Тя си има своя история и ако не се лъжа, тя е преминала дълъг път — от майстора Рикю, епоха Момояма, за да стигне до нас. В продължение на няколко столетия тя е била съхранявана от много ценители на чайната церемония и е била предавана следващите поколения. Така че тук баща ми стои по-настрана — каза Кикудзи, стараейки се да забрави съдбите, които се преплитаха около тази чашка.
От господин Оота чашката е станала собственост на вдовицата му, след това е била подарена на бащата на Кикудзи, който от своя страна я подарил на Тикако. И сега от четиримата, двамата мъже са починали, а двете жени присъствуват тук на чайната церемония. Само по себе си това вече е достатъчно съдбата на тази чашка да бъде считана за необикновена. А тук на чайната церемония колко много други момински ръце и устни са се докосвали до тъмната й повърхност.
— Аз също с удоволствие бих пила от тази чашка. По-рано пиех от друга — неочаквано за всички каза госпожа Оота.”
― Yasunari Kawabata, quote from Thousand Cranes
“You speak of my manner to you being insulting. Well, once or twice, your manner has annoyed me"
"I am enchanted to hear it," said Poirot.”
― Agatha Christie, quote from The Murder on the Links
“There's an unwritten law of the universe which assures that the thing you seek will always be found in the last place you look. It applies to everything in life from lost socks to misplaced poisons. . .”
― Alan Bradley, quote from Speaking from Among the Bones
BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
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