James Hilton - Lost Horizon (1933)

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When it comes to believing things without actual evidence, we all incline to what we find most attractive.

James Hilton
We believe that to govern perfectly it is necessary to avoid governing too much.

James Hilton
Is there not too much tension in the world at present, and might it not be better if more people were slackers?

James Hilton
The austere serenity of Shangri-La. Its forsaken courts and pale pavilions shimmered in repose from which all the fret of existence had ebbed away, leaving a hush as if moments hardly dared to pass.

James Hilton
The first quarter-century of your life was doubtless lived under the cloud of being too young for things, while the last quarter-century would normally be shadowed by the still darker cloud of being too old for them; and between those two clouds, what small and narrow sunlight illumines a human lifetime!

James Hilton
If I were to put it into a very few words, my dear sir, I should say that our prevalent belief is in moderation. We inculcate the virtue of avoiding excesses of all lands—even including, if you will pardon the paradox, excess of virtue itself.

James Hilton
People make mistakes in life through believing too much, but they have a damned dull time if they believe too little.

James Hilton
Have you ever been going somewhere with a crowd and you're certain it's the wrong road and you tell them, but they won't listen, so you just have to plod along in what you know is the wrong direction till somebody more important gets the same idea?

James Hilton
There came a time, he realized, when the strangeness of everything made it increasingly difficult to realize the strangeness of anything.

James Hilton
You will have Time, that rare and lovely gift that your Western countries have lost the more they have pursued it.

James Hilton