117 Quotes by william boyd

I have teken refuge in the doctrine that advises one not to seek tranquility in certainty but in permanently suspended judgement.

There are things in life we don't understand, and when we meet them, all we can do is let them alone.

Dignity was the first quality to be abandoned when the heart took over the running of human affairs.

It's true: lives do drift apart for no obvious reason. We're all busy people,we can't spend our time simply trying to stay in touch. The test of a friendship is if it can weather these inevitable gaps.

We never love anyone. Not really. We only love our idea of another person. It is some conception of our own that we love. We love ourselves, in fact.

Romer’s idea, like all good ideas, was very simple: false information can be just as useful, influential, as telling, transforming or as damaging as true information.

However long your stay on this small planet lasts, and whatever happens during it, the most important thing is that-from time to time-you feel life’s sweet caress.

Death is hidden away from us in our century – it’s become something secret that happens in hospitals or morgues. We only see it on a screen – filtered, lit, factitious.

The best often seem the worst.