A Dangerous Fortune Quotes

“There was also something false about the atmosphere here. It was solemn and dignified like a church or the court of a president or a museum. They were moneylenders, but they acted as if charging interest were a noble calling, like the priesthood.”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“A man who had a love affair was considered wicked but romantic; a woman who did the same was a whore.”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“The Bible says, ‘If any would not work, neither should he eat.’ Saint Paul wrote that, in Second Thessalonians, chapter three, verse ten,”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“There will always be crashes. They are necessary to remind good and bad investors that risk is real.”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“But when you grab happiness you may let go of something more valuable --- your integrity. - Hugh Pilaster”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“The extra line or two around her eyes only made them more fascinating; the touch of silver in her hair enhanced the blackness of the rest; and if she was a little heavier than she had been it made her body more voluptuous.”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“Sir, you have insulted me!" she cried theatrically. "I challenge you to a duel!"

"What weapons do ladies duel with?" Hugh laughed.

"Crochet hooks at dawn!”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“It means telling the truth, keeping promises, and taking responsibility for your mistakes. It’s the same in business as it is in everyday life. It’s a matter of being what you claim to be, doing what you say you’ll do.”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“Even if you were taken out of school for want of money, Hugh. It's no excuse for false values. The world is full of poor people who understand that love and friendship are more important than riches - Maisie Greenbourne”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“I don't stoop to criticize you. I despise you. - Samuel Pilaster”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“A man should have a hobby. It keeps him out of trouble. -Madeleine Pilaster”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“Today he had on a silver-gray tweed suit that matched his silver-streaked hair, and a bright blue tie the color of his eyes. He was heavier than he used to be but he still had a mischievous grin which appeared now and again. They made an attractive couple-but they were not a couple, and the fact that they looked and acted like one was what made her so sad. She took his arm as they walked into Windfield School, and she thought she would give her soul to be with him every day.”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“I have to go into town," Hugh said as he put on a collar and tie.

"Who's going to look after the boys, then?" she said.

"You, I hope."

"No!" she screeched. "I'm going shopping!"

"I'm sorry, Nora, but this is very important."

"I'm important too!"

"Of course you are, but you can't have your way about this. I have to speak to Ben Greenbourne urgently."

"I'm sick of this," she said disgustedly. "Sick of the house, sick of this boring village, sick of the children and sick of you. My father lives better than we do!" Nora's father had opened a pub, with a loan from Pilasters Bank, and was doing extremely well. "I ought to go and live with him, and work as a barmaid," she said.

"I'd have more fun and I'd be paid for doing drudgery!"

Hugh stared at her. Suddenly he knew he would never share her bed again. There was nothing left of his marriage. Nora hated him, and he despised her. "Take your hat off, Nora," he said. "You're not going shopping today." He put on his suit jacket and went out.”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“Nobody contradicted Hugh-but nobody supported him either. He supposed they did not want to antagonize Augusta: the cowards preferred that he do it on their behalf, he thought cynically.”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“Normally, .

when the bank launched, say, a million pounds' worth of bonds, it agreed to buy any unsold bonds itself, thereby guaranteeing that the borrower would receive the full million. In return for that guarantee, the bank took a fat percentage. The alternative method was to offer the bonds for sale with no guarantee. The bank took no risk and received a much lower percentage, but if only ten thousand of the million bonds were sold, the borrower would get only ten thousand pounds. The risk remained with the borrower”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“Surely now, when she had lost the companion of a lifetime, she would seem human and pitiable? But her proud face was carved in stern lines, like a marble sculpture of a Roman senator, and she showed no grief.”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“Nora was sitting up in bed, surrounded by lace pillows, sipping tea. Hugh perched on the edge of the bed and said: "You were wonderful last night."

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"I showed them all," she said, looking pleased with herself. "I danced with the Prince of Wales."

"He couldn't stop looking at your bosom," Hugh said. He reached over and caressed her breasts through the silk of her high-buttoned nightdress.

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She pushed his hand aside irritably. "Hugh! Not now."

He felt hurt. "Why not now?"

"It's the second time this week."

"When we were first married we used to do it constantly."

"Exactly when we were first married. A girl doesn't expect to have to do it every day forever."

Hugh frowned. He would have been perfectly happy to do it every day forever-wasn't that what marriage was all about? But he did not know what was normal. Perhaps he was overactive. "How often do you think we should do it, then?" he said uncertainly.

She looked pleased to have been asked, as if she had been waiting for an opportunity to clear this up. "Not more than once a week," she said firmly.

"Really?" His feeling of exultation went away and he suddenly felt very cast down. A week seemed an awfully long time. He stroked her thigh through the sheets. "Perhaps a little more than that."

"No!" she said, moving her leg.

Hugh was upset. Once upon a time she had seemed enthusiastic about lovemaking. It had been something they enjoyed together. How had it become a chore she performed for his benefit? Had she never really liked it, but just pretended?
There was something dreadfully depressing about that idea.”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“Agriculture is an honorable way to become poor”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“Always remain calm and unruffled, no matter what happens. If your coachman has a heart attack, your carriage crashes, your hat blows off and your drawers fall down, just say: 'Goodness me, such excitement,' and get in a hansom. Remember that the country is better than the town, idleness is superior to work, old is preferable to new and rank is more important than money. Know a little about everything, but never be an expert.”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“She looked at Solly. How man?

hard could it be, to marry this He said: "I love you so much, I'm just desperate for you. دو

He really did love her, she could tell.

And that was the trouble.

She did not love him. bal

He deserved better. He deserved a wife who really loved him, not a hard-hearted guttersnipe on the make. If she married him she would be cheating him. And he was too good for that.
...
"Whatever happens, Solly, I believe I'll never be proposed to by a better man.”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“Edward was calming down rapidly, to Micky's relief. Micky said: "When we're first married, we should probably spend a few evenings at home, and give the occasional dinner party. But after a while we'll go right back to normal."

Edward frowned. "Don't wives mind that?"

Micky shrugged. "Who cares whether they mind? What can a wife do?"

"If she's discontented I suppose she can bother her husband."

Micky realized that Edward was taking his mother as a typical wife. Fortunately few women were as strong-willed or as clever as Augusta. "The trick is not to be too good to them," Micky said, speaking from observation of married cronies at the Cowes Club. "If you're good to a wife she'll want you to stay with her. Treat her roughly and she'll be only too glad to see you go off to your club in the evening and leave her in peace.”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“Next day he stepped out of the bank at midday, on his way to a coffeehouse for a plate of lamb cutlets, and saw her walking along the street toward him. At first he did not recognize her, but simply thought what a nice face she had; then she smiled at him and he remembered. He doffed his hat and she stopped to talk. She worked as an assistant to a corset maker, she told him with a blush, and she was on her way back to the shop after visiting a client. A sudden impulse made him ask her to go dancing with him that night.

She said she would like to go but she did not have a respectable hat, so he took her to a milliner's shop and bought her one, and that settled the matter.

Much of their romance was conducted while shopping. She had never owned much and she took unashamed delight in Hugh's affluence. For his part he enjoyed buying her gloves, shoes, a coat, bracelets, and anything else she wanted. His sister, with all the wisdom of her twelve years, had announced that Nora only liked him for his money. He had laughed and said: "But who would love me for my looks?”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“Nora cried for a week. Hugh refused to blame her for what had happened. No one had forced him to marry her: he had to take responsibility for his own decisions. If his family had any decency they would stand by him in such a crisis, but he had never been able to count on them for that kind of support.”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“Other men saw dinner and conversation as a tedious preliminary to the important business of the evening...”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“I say, don't cry," he said. "It's all over now."

She shook her head. "It's not the riot," she said. "I've seen fights before. But this is the first time anyone ever took care of me. All my life I've had to look after myself. It's a new experience."

He did not know what to say. All the girls he had ever met assumed that men would take care of them automatically. Being with Maisie was a constant revelation.”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“The picnics of the rich had been sent by earlier trains: scores of hampers, carried on the shoulders of strapping young footmen, packed with china and linen, cooked chickens and cucumbers, champagne and hothouse peaches. For the less wealthy there were stalls selling sausages, shellfish and beer.”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“Aunt Augusta said icily: "Hugh, kindly tell this PERSON to let us pass!"

Maisie looked at Augusta for the first time. "Shut your gob, you old bitch," she said casually.

Clementine gasped and Aunt Madeleine gave a small scream of horror. Hugh's mouth dropped open. Maisie's gorgeous clothes and expensive equipage had made it easy to forget that she was an urchin from the slums. Her words were so splendidly vulgar that for a moment Augusta was too stunned to reply. Nobody ever dared to speak to her this way.”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“The bank was raising a loan of two million pounds for the government of Russia. It had issued 100-pound bonds which paid five pounds interest per year; but they were selling the bonds for 93 pounds, so the true interest rate was over five and three-eighths. Most of the bonds had been bought by other banks in London and Paris, but some had been offered to the general public, and now the applications would have to be counted.

"Let's hope we have more applications than we can fulfill," Mulberry said.

"Why?"

"That way the unlucky applicants will try to buy the bonds tomorrow on the open market, and that will drive the price up perhaps to 95 pounds and all our customers will feel they've bought a bargain."

Hugh nodded. "And what if we have too few applications?"

"Then the bank, as underwriter, has to buy the surplus-at 93 pounds. And tomorrow the price may go down to 92 or 91 pounds, and we will have made a loss.”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“I can certainly deposit it for you."

"What interest will I get?"

"Four percent, at present."

"That'll do, I suppose."

Hugh hesitated. It occurred to him that if Sir John could be persuaded to buy Russian bonds, the loan issue could be transformed from being slightly undersubscribed to slightly oversubscribed. Should he mention it? He had already overstepped his authority by bringing a guest into the Partners' Room. He decided to take chance. "You could get five and three-eighths by buying Russian bonds."

Sir John narrowed his eyes. "Could I, now?"

"Yes. The subscription closed yesterday, but for you-"

"Are they safe?"

"As safe as the Russian government.”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune

“It took a moment for the rats to discover they were trapped in the pit. Some ran around the edge, looking for a way out; others jumped up, trying without success to get a grip on the sheer sides; others formed themselves into a heap. For a few seconds the dog had it all his own way, and killed a dozen or more.

Then the rats turned, all at once, as if they had heard a signal.

They began to fly at the dog, biting his legs, his haunches and his short tail. Some got on his back and bit his neck and ears, and one sank its sharp little teeth into his lower lip and clung on, swinging from his lethal jaws, until he howled with rage and slammed it against the ground, and at last it released his bleeding flesh.

The dog kept turning around in dizzying circles and caught rat after rat, killing them all; but there were always more behind him. Half the rats were dead when he began to tire. The people who had bet on thirty-six, and got long odds, now tore up their slips; but those who had bet on lower numbers cheered louder.

The dog was bleeding from twenty or thirty bites, and the ground became slippery with his blood and the moist corpses of the dead rats. Still he swung his great head; still he cracked their brittle spines in his terrible mouth; but he moved a little less quickly, and his feet were not so sure on the slimy earth. Now, Micky thought, it starts to get interesting.

Sensing the dog's fatigue, the rats became bolder. When he had one in his jaws, another would spring for his throat. They ran between his legs and under his belly and leaped at the soft parts of his hide. One particularly big creature dug its teeth into his hind leg and refused to let go. He turned to snap at it but another rat distracted him by leaping on his snout. Then the leg seemed to give way the rat must have severed a tendon, Micky thought-and suddenly the dog was limping.”
― Ken Follett, A Dangerous Fortune