Simon Leys Quotes

“He who pays me a visit honours me; he who does not pay me a visit gives me a pleasure’, said Montherlant, and Leys delighted in pairing that quote with one from Herman Hesse: ‘When a man has reached old age and has fulfilled his mission, he has a right to confront the idea of death in peace. He has no need of other men, he knows them already and he has seen enough of them. What he needs is peace. It is not seemly to seek out such a man, plague him with chatter and make him suffer banalities. One should pass by the door of his house as if no one lived there.”
― Philippe Paquet, Simon Leys: Navigator between Worlds

“So, it was ‘the anatomy of a massacre’ – the subtitle of the book he published on the subject in French in 2002 – that he wanted to undertake. How could a human being as uncharismatic, as ungifted, as physically and intellectually unimposing as Jeronimus Cornelisz, subjugate his fellow companions in misfortune, take control of their souls and inspire in them fear, and even devotion? How could a community that had the advantage of numbers and of being galvanised by the energy of despair accept the yoke of this petty tyrant and the henchmen he recruited from among them? Why did people resign themselves to being persecuted and let themselves be systematically massacred?”
― Philippe Paquet, Simon Leys: Navigator between Worlds

“For the people, pure Maoism means the substitution of an austere and fanatical political mysticism for the legitimate material, intellectual and emotional requirements of human nature, the imposition of a permanent state of mobilisation that is quasi-military, the merciless destruction of all traditional values, a desolating monotony of existence, the establishment of a cultural desert, universal bigotry, aridity and boredom interrupted only by periodic outbreaks of violence and hysterical activism. For the cadres, constantly exposed to criticism, harrassed, frightened, exhausted, Maoism was synonymous with perpetual menace and uncertainty, incessant struggle, tension and insecurity, and they aspired to a more stable, safer and more conventional system of government.”
― Philippe Paquet, Simon Leys: Navigator between Worlds

“One can’t go too far wrong when one bets on ignorance, foolishness, vanity and stupidity.”
― Philippe Paquet, Simon Leys: Navigator between Worlds

“In the absence of true information, even palpably false information will always appear as the next best thing.”
― Philippe Paquet, Simon Leys: Navigator between Worlds

“On Remorse’: recording [the] gullibility and readiness [of the broad masses of China] to believe all the trumped-up charges made against others, and their thoughtless complicity in the persecution of innocents. Some, myself included, would record our remorse for our lack of courage. For it was people like me who, although aware of the injustices being perpetrated on those around us, were too cowardly to take a stand and speak out against what was happening. Our only boldness was a lack of enthusiasm for the endless movements and struggles in which we participated.”
― Philippe Paquet, Simon Leys: Navigator between Worlds