The Golden Gate Quotes

“In life's brief game to be a winner
A man must have...oh yes, above
All else, of course, someone to love.”
― Vikram Seth, The Golden Gate

“Workers of lungless labs- when dying
Will you be proud you were midwife
To implements exemplifying
Assaults against the heart of life?
You knew their purpose, yet you made them.
If you had scruples, you betrayed them.
What pastoral response acquits
Those who made ovens for Auschwitz?
Indeed it is said that the banality
Of evil is its greatest shock.
It jokes. It punches its time clock,
Plays with its kids. The triviality
Of slaughtering millions can't impinge
Upon its peace, or make it cringe.”
― Vikram Seth, The Golden Gate

“They really have you and Hansen over a barrel there, don’t they, Mr President – an oil barrel? First they rob you blind over oil sales, accumulate so much loot that they can’t find homes for all of it, conceive the bright idea of investing it in the land of the robbed, come up with the concept of building this refinery and petro-chemical complex on the West Coast and running it themselves – with your technical help, of course – on their own oil which would cost them nothing. The foreseeable profits are staggering, a large portion of which would be passed on to you in the form of vastly reduced oil prices. Bonanzas all round. I’m afraid international finance is beyond my scope – I prefer to make my money in a more direct fashion. If you think your deal is going to slip through because of the offence now being given to those Arabian gentlemen you must be an awful lot more naïve than a President of the United States has any right to be. Those are not gentlemen to be swayed by personal considerations. They have tungsten steel where their hearts should be and IBM computers for brains.’ He paused. ‘I’m not being very polite to your guests, am I?”
― Alistair MacLean, The Golden Gate

“As in an airless room a curtain
Parts to admit the evening breeze,
So John's exhausted and uncertain
Tension admits a transient ease,
And Liz's lenient mediation
Smooths out his doubt and hesitation.
She looks at him: "Don't be afraid
I'll find what you say bland or staid."
Relieved of the unspoken duty
Of cleverness and coolness now
John brings himself to speak, somehow,
Of truth, ambition, status, beauty,
The hopes (or dupes) for which we strive,
The ghosts that keep the world alive.”
― Vikram Seth, The Golden Gate

“He would have made an excellent politician or statesman but had unfortunately been cursed from birth with an unshakable incorruptibility and moral integrity. The”
― Alistair MacLean, The Golden Gate

“One had but to look at him to appreciate that he had been doomed from the cradle to end up in the Oval Office: that anyone else should aspire to be – or be – the Chief Executive was quite unthinkable.”
― Alistair MacLean, The Golden Gate

“a patrician face vaguely reminiscent of one of the better-fed Roman emperors”
― Alistair MacLean, The Golden Gate

“Di sotto il padre di Sue attizza il fuoco:
"Non son vere gemme i nostri bambini?",
contempla ammirato Ed che dorme immoto
presso il camino, mentre i due vecchini
si son dati alla lettura: un thriller
intitolato Jack il Lady-Killer
per la nonna, per il nonno Tom Jones.
Ognuno si legge il suo, ma ogni po'
ecco un pensiero che va condiviso-
"Giacché l'arsenico cresce nei peli?"
oppure: "Tom, questi piani crudeli
come farà a inventarli all'improvviso?",
così intrecciano i romanzi e le vite,
come dei rami di una stessa vite.”
― Vikram Seth, The Golden Gate