Vietnam’s going to be a big problem for your government unless it’s very smart.” Bartlett said confidently, “Thank God it is. JFK handled Cuba. He’ll handle Vietnam too. He made the Big K back off there and he can do it again. We won that time. The Soviets took their missiles out.

It is not wise to notice another man’s woman.

When a man’s pride is injured, death is a small price to repay the insult.

They’re devils who pretend to serve the Church and Christ, but they serve only themselves. They lust for power, power at any cost. They hide behind a net of poverty and piousness, but underneath, they feed like kings and amass fortunes.

A new era requires clear thinking about the meaning of honor.

They put me with a blind monk who taught me how to massage and to see again with my fingers. Now my fingers tell me more than my eyes used to, I think.

Secrets never leave you in peace, however much you wish or pray.

Damn what you like, Pieterzoon. But don’t damn liquor. It’s the stuff of life!

The talk had turned to business, and in the few short hours she had learned more about Hong Kong techniques than through all the reading she had done. More and more it was clear that unless you were on the inside, real power and real riches would escape you.

I prefer the mist that surrounds me. Yes, I don’t like a lot of what I see nowadays.