Mightier than the Sword

by Jeffrey Archer

‘Know how much you can afford, never overstretch yourself, and try to remember that the other side are also hoping to make a profit. And build good contacts because they’ll be your lifeline during bad times, as only one thing is certain in banking – you will experience bad times. And by the way,’ he’d added, ‘never buy retail.’

‘Remember what Lyndon Johnson said about J. Edgar Hoover? I’d rather have him inside the tent pissing out than outside pissing in.’

‘Just because a man is physically frail, doesn’t mean his mind isn’t still sharp.’

Josef Stalin was born Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvili in Gori, Georgia, on 18 December 1878. As a child, he was known as Soso, but when he became a young revolutionary he adopted the pseudonym Koba, after a fictional Robin Hood figure he wanted to be compared with, although in fact he was more like the Sheriff of Nottingham. As he rose through the ranks of the party, and his influence grew, he changed his name to Stalin (‘Man of Steel’). But

‘There’s only one excuse to be late for a lady: death.’

‘You don’t realize just how much you love someone until you think you might never see them again.’

Dead men’s words are so much more powerful than those of the living.’