Background Image

...

You Never Know," Jack Said Speculatively. "there May Come A Time When Savages Like William Hamleigh Aren't In Power; When The Laws Protect The Ordinary People Instead Of Enslaving Them; When The King Makes Peace Instead Of War. Think Of That - A Time When Towns In England Don't Need Walls!

-Ken Follett

...

Please Wait....
Translating....

You Never Know," Jack

Ken Follett

...

You Never Know," Jack Said Speculatively. "there May Come A Time When Savages Like William Hamleigh Aren't In Power; When The Laws Protect The Ordinary People Instead Of Enslaving Them; When The King Makes Peace Instead Of War. Think Of That - A Time When Towns In England Don't Need Walls!

Views: 42637

Topic

More From Ken Follett

It Was An Odd Relationship, But Then She Was An Extraordinary Woman: A Prioress Who Doubted Much Of What The Church Taught; An Acclaimed Healer Who Rejected Medicine As Practised By Physicians; And A Nun Who Made Enthusiastic Love To Her Man Whenever She Could Get Away With It. If I Wanted A Normal Relationship, Merthin Told Himself, I Should Have Picked A Normal Girl.

I Started Writing Stories In My Spare Time.

Most Of My Stories Have Some Basis In Fact.

You Should First Follow The Plow If You Want To Dance The Harvest Jig.

I Read Mostly Fiction, A Lot Of 19th-century Novels.

Proportion Is The Heart Of Beauty.

There Was A Very Serious Communist Strain Among American Intellectuals Before The War. America Was A More Tolerant Place In Those Days, And Communists Were Not Treated As Pariahs. That Ended With The Mccarthy Era.

I Wanted To Be Some Kind Of Captain Of Industry. Then I Wanted To Be In Advertising, And Then I Wanted To Be A Newspaper Reporter.

Why Did People Manufacture Trouble When There Was Already So Much Of It In The World?

I Use A Professional Researcher In New York Who Does All The Legwork, All That Stuff Which Would Take Me Days And Weeks Of Calling, Waiting For People To Call Back.

She Looked At His Young Face, So Full Of Concern And Tenderness; And She Remembered Why She Had Run Away From Everyone Else And Sought Solitude Here. She Yearned To Kiss Him, And She Saw The Answering Longing In His Eyes. Every Fiber Of Her Body Told Her To Throw Herself Into His Arms, But She Knew What She Had To Do. She Wanted To Say, I Love You Like A Thunderstorm, Like A Lion, Like A Helpless Rage; But Instead She Said: "i Think I'm Going To Marry Alfred.

We All Now Tell Stories By Cutting From One Dramatic Scene To The Next, Whereas Victorian Novelists Felt Free To Write Long Passages Of Undramatic Summary.

In Both Cases, Weakness And Scruples Had Defeated Strength And Ruthlessness.

A Baby Was Like A Revolution, Grigori Thought: You Could Start One, But You Could Not Control How It Would Turn Out.

You Never Know," Jack Said Speculatively. "there May Come A Time When Savages Like William Hamleigh Aren't In Power; When The Laws Protect The Ordinary People Instead Of Enslaving Them; When The King Makes Peace Instead Of War. Think Of That - A Time When Towns In England Don't Need Walls!

I Imagined It. I Wrote It. But I Guess I Never Thought I'd See It.

She Loved Him Because He Had Brought Her Back To Life. She Had Been Like A Caterpillar In A Cocoon, And He Had Drawn Her Out And Shown Her That She Was A Butterfly.

The Duck Swallows The Worm, The Fox Kills The Duck, The Men Shoot The Fox, And The Devil Hunts The Men.

Fear Could Paralyse. Action Was The Antidote.

I Might Not Be A Good Socialist, Any More Than I'm A Good Christian, But I Am One.

She Wanted To Say 'i Love You Like A Thunderstorm, Like A Lion, Like A Helpless Rage'.

Culture Clash Is Terrific Drama.

Knotty Theological Questions Are The Least Worrying Of Problems To Me. Why? Because They Will Be Resolved In The Hereafter, And Meanwhile They Can Be Safely Shelved.

Everybody Takes What They Life From The Teachings Of The Church, And Ignores The Parts That Don't Suit Them.

I Went And Looked At One Of These Great Cathedrals One Day, And I Was Blown Away By It. From There I Became Interested In How Cathedrals Were Built, And From There I Became Interested In The Society That Built The Medieval Cathedral. It Occurred To Me At Some Point That The Story Of The Building Of A Cathedral Could Be A Great Popular Novel.

Ethel Said: "lloyd, There's Someone Here You May Remember-" Daisy Could Not Restrain Herself. She Ran To Lloyd And Threw Herself Into His Arms. She Hugged Him. She Looked Into His Green Eyes, Then Kissed His Brown Cheeks And His Broken Nose And Then His Mouth. "i Love You, Lloyd," She Sad Madly. "i Love You, I Love You, I Love You." "i Love You, Too, Daisy," He Said. Behind Her, Daisy Heard Ethel's Wry Voice. "you Do Remember, I See.

Why Was It, Lloyd Wondered, That The People Who Wanted To Destroy Everything Good About Their Country Were The Quickest To Wave The National Flag?

I Like To Create Imaginary Characters And Events Around A Real Historical Situation. I Want Readers To Feel: Ok, This Probably Didn't Happen, But It Might Have.

What She Needs,' Tom Said Aloud 'is A Husband.' Agnes Said Crisply, 'well, She Can't Have Mine.

To Someone Standing In The Nave, Looking Down The Length Of The Church Toward The East, The Round Window Would Seem Like A Huge Sun Exploding Into Innumerable Shards Of Gorgeous Color.

Man Who Betrayed You Once Would Betray You Twice.

It's Great That In The German Language I've Sold Almost 30 Million Books. Isn't That Amazing?

German Language

I Want To Tell A Story That Makes The Reader Always Want To See What Will Happen Next.

His Aim Was The Glory Of God, But The Glory Of Philip Pleased Him Too.

I Aim To Be Translucent, So You Don't Notice The Words, Just Their Meaning. I Haven't Much Insight Into People's Motivations.

But The Lesson Of Abraham's Story Is That God Demands The Best We Have To Offer, That Which Is Most Precious To Us.

President Wilson Says A Leader Must Treat Public Opinion The Way A Sailor Deals With The Wind, Using It To Blow The Ship In One Direction Or Another, But Never Trying To Go Directly Against It.

He Had Been Granted His Life's Wish-but Conditionally.

I Have Quite A Few Different Bibles. Having Rejected My Parents' Religion, I Still Think The King James Bible Is The Most Important Work Of Literature In English. None Of Us Can Help Being Influenced By It.

Trusting Someone Was Like Holding A Little Water In Your Cupped Hands - It Was So Easy To Spill The Water, And You Could Never Get It Back.

It Was An Odd Thing To Do, To Stand In A Street In The Hope Of Seeing Someone Who Hardly Knew Him, But He Did Not Want To Move.

When I'm Writing A Woman Character, I Don't Think, 'what Would A Woman Do?' I Just Think, 'what Would This Character Do In This Situation?

We’re All Good When It Suits Us, He Used To Say: That Doesn’t Count. It’s When You Want So Badly To Do Something Wrong—when You’re About To Make A Fortune From A Dishonest Deal, Or Kiss The Lovely Lips Of Your Neighbor’s Wife, Or Tell A Lie To Get Yourself Out Of Terrible Trouble—that’s When You Need The Rules. Your Integrity Is Like A Sword, He Would Say: You Shouldn’t Wave It Until You’re About To Put It To The Test.

James Bond Is Quite Serious About His Drinks And Clothing And Cigarettes And Food And All That Sort Of Thing. There Is Nothing Wry Or Amused About James Bond.

The Most Expensive Part Of Building Is The Mistakes.

Hard Work Should Be Rewarded By Good Food.

There Is No Point In Asking A Man A Question Until You Have Established Whether He Has Any Reason To Lie To You.

What News? There's Nothing To Tell. I'm A Nun.

Why Do You Have To Be The Same As The Others? ...most Of Them Are Stupid.

The Thriller Is The Most Popular Literary Genre Of The 20th Century.

I Don't Think There's Any Great Mystery To Writing Female Characters, So Long As You Talk To Them. If You Lived In A Monastery And Never Met Any Women, Maybe It Would Be Difficult.

For Success, The Author Must Make The Reader Care About The Destiny Of The Principals, And Sustain This Anxiety, Or Suspense, For About 100,000 Words.

Movies Have Influenced All Writers, Not Just Thriller Writers.

Thrillers Have Been Traditionally Very Masculine Books; The Women Characters Often Rather Decorative.

One Of The Hardest Things For Me, Now That I'm Famous, Is Finding People Who Can Read My Stuff And Give Me An Honest Critique.

Without Books I Would Not Have Become A Vivacious Reader, And If You Are Not A Reader You Are Not A Writer.

When You're Thinking, Please Remember This: Excessive Pride Is A Familiar Sin, But A Man May Just As Easily Frustrate The Will Of God Through Excessive Humility.

A Very Good Editor Is Almost A Collaborator.

After A Certain Point, Most People, Including Editors, Will Tell You Everything You Do Is Great.

You See, All That I Ever Held Dear Has Been Taken From Me," She Said In A Matter-of-fact Tone. "and When You've Lost Everything-" Her Facade Began To Crumble, And Her Voice Broke, But She Made Herself Carry On. "when You've Lost Everything, You've Got Nothing To Lose.

The Degradation To Which You Subject Others Comes Back, Sooner Or Later, To Haunt You.

Sooner Or Later

I Am Very Fond Of Edith Wharton. She's Quite High Brow But Also A Great Storyteller. My Favorite Is 'the House Of Mirth.' I Also Like 'the Reef.

There Is A Real Connection Between Philosopy And Fiction.

Jack Reacher Is A Brilliant Movie

I Enjoy Learning Technical Details.

World War Ii Is The Greatest Drama In Human History, The Biggest War Ever And A True Battle Of Good And Evil. I Imagine Writers Will Continue To Get Stories From It, And Readers Will Continue To Love Them, For Many More Years.

I Like Reading History, And Actually Most Authors Enjoy The Research Part Because It Is, After All, Easier Than Writing.

But Desperate People Find Courage.

I Could Fall For You In A Heartbeat

Falling For You

Nevertheless, The Book Gave Jack A Feeling He Had Never Had Before, That The Past Was Like A Story, In Which One Thing Led To Another, And The World Was Not A Boundless Mystery, But A Finite Thing That Could Be Comprehended.

An Awful Lot Of Thriller Writers Write Women Rather Badly. So Just Doing It Ok Gets A Lot Of Credit.

In My Books, Women Often Solve The Problem. Even If The Woman Is Not The Hero, She's A Strong Character. She Does Change The Plot. She'll Often Rescue The Male Character From Some Situation.

The Boundary Between Philosophy And Fiction Is Not As Clear Cut As You May Think And The Two Definitely Interact.

Hunger Is The Best Seasoning.

I’ve Worked With Volunteers Before,” He Began. “it’s Important Not To… Not To Treat Them Like Servants. We May Feel That They Are Laboring To Obtain A Heavenly Reward, And Should Therefore Work Harder Than They Would For Money; But They Don’t Necessarily Take That Attitude. They Feel They’re Working For Nothing, And Doing A Great Kindness To Us Thereby; And If We Seem Ungrateful They Will Work Slowly And Make Mistakes. It Will Be Best To Rule Them With A Light Touch.

It Was The Most Romantic Plane Ever Made.

The Cia's Research Program Is Described In A Book Called "the Search For The Manchurian Candidate."

When You've Lost Everything, You've Got Nothing To Lose.

Lost Everything

Nothing To Lose

Having Faith In God Did Not Mean Sitting Back And Doing Nothing. It Meant Believing You Would Find Success If You Did Your Best Honestly And Energetically.

The Research Is The Easiest. The Outline Is The Most Fun. The First Draft Is The Hardest, Because Every Word Of The Outline Has To Be Fleshed Out. The Rewrite Is Very Satisfying.

My Favorite Period Is World War Ii, And I'm In The Middle Of Writing My Fourth Novel Set In That Era.

Trending Author

Category