297 Quotes by Ian Fleming

Above all, he liked it that everything was one’s own fault. There was only oneself to praise or blame. Luck was a servant and not a master. Luck had to be accepted with a shrug or taken advantage of up to the hilt. But it had to be understood and recognized for what it was and not confused with a faulty appreciation of the odds, for, at gambling, the deadly sin is to mistake bad play for bad luck. And luck in all its moods had to be loved and not feared.

A woman should be an illusion.

Her breasts were showing and Mr. Player, who was a very strong Quaker, didn’t think that was quite proper.

He cursed himself and cursed the hubris which had made him so sure the battle was won and the enemy in flight.

Bond didn’t defend the practice. He simply maintained that the more effort and ingenuity you put into gambling, the more you took out.

The man seemed to realize that he was being watched. He looked up and gazed incuriously at them for a moment. Then he reached for a brief-case on the chair beside him, extracted a newspaper and started to read it, his elbows propped up on the table.

On these things he spent all his money and it was his ambition to have as little as possible in his banking account when he was killed, as, when he was depressed, he knew he would be, before the statutory age of forty-five.

What an extraordinary difference there was between a body full of a person and a body that was empty! Now there is someone, now there is no one.

Miss Moneypenny would have been desirable but for eyes which were cool and direct and quizzical.