The Levant Trilogy Quotes

“Every marriage was imperfect and the destroying agents, the imperfections, were there, unseen, from the start.”
― Olivia Manning, Fortunes of War: The Levant Trilogy

“Harriet thought of a story that Guy was fond of telling. Fitzgerald was supposed to have said to Hemingway, ‘The rich, they’re different from us,’ to which Hemingway replied, ‘Yes, they’ve got more money.’ Guy saw this as a debunking of Fitzgerald but Harriet felt that Fitzgerald showed more perception than Hemingway. A person who grew up in the security of wealth was different. It seemed to her she saw this difference in the tolerant, even admiring, amusement with which Angela watched the men lowering her whisky.”
― Olivia Manning, Fortunes of War: The Levant Trilogy

“The war had deprived people of free will. They must do what they were told.”
― Olivia Manning, The Levant Trilogy: 'Fantastically tart and readable' Sarah Waters

“They believed that the British Empire was the greatest force for good the world had ever known. They expected gratitude from the Egyptians and were pained to find themselves barely tolerated.”
― Olivia Manning, The Levant Trilogy: 'Fantastically tart and readable' Sarah Waters

“May I offer you my protection?’ ‘Good heavens, no,’ she was amused: ‘I don’t need protection. I’m an Englishwoman.”
― Olivia Manning, Fortunes of War: The Levant Trilogy

“As they say in the RAF: “Any prang you walk away from is a good prang”.”
― Olivia Manning, Fortunes of War: The Levant Trilogy