Never

by Ken Follett

“Smart conservatives know that you can’t stop change but you can slow it down. That way people have time to get used to new ideas, and you don’t suffer an angry reaction. Liberals make the mistake of demanding radical change now, and that undermines them.”

Gradually he had realized that everyone was constrained. The American president was ruled by public opinion, and the Chinese president by the Communist Party. The billionaires had to make profits and the generals had to win battles. Power resided not in one locus but in an immensely complex network, a group of key people and institutions with no collective will, all pulling in different directions. And he was part of it. What happened would be his fault as much as anyone’s.

“The easy problems get solved right away, so only the hard ones are left. That’s why you should never believe a politician with simple answers.”

This is Pauline Green again, talking to her daughter.