Daivd’s Reviews > The Mandarins > Status Update

The fun of it, Henri thought the next day, was seeing how perfectly the future followed your plans: every turn, every upgrade and downgrade, every hamlet was in its foreseen place.

I looked at people through a doctor's eyes and it made it difficult for me to have any human contact with them. Anger, bitterness—I'm rarely capable of those emotions. And the nobler sentiments people show toward me touch me hardly at all; it's my job to evoke them. I have to submit patiently to the consequences of the transfers I generate, and I must cut them off at the proper moment . . . . .

You're mighty arrogant when you haven't done anything. And then, once you get into it, you're too interested in what you're writing to waste time comparing."