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Author: Iain Pears
Quotes of Author: Iain Pears
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  1. Iain Pears _ Stone's Fall

    But, however splendid a job may seem when one does not have it, it rarely stands up to close acquaintanceship.
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  2. Iain Pears _ An Instance of the Fingerpost

    Although of course I am aware that it changes colour in a jar. But we know why, surely? The heavier melancholic elements in the blood sink, making the top lighter and the bottom darker.""Not so," I said firmly. "Cover the jar, and the colour does not change. And I can find no explanation of how such separation could occur in the lungs. But when it emerges from the lungs - at least, this is the case in cats - it is very much lighter in colour than when it goes in, indicating that some darkness is withdrawn from it.""I must cut up a cat and see for myself. A live cat, was it?""It was for a while.
    book-quotecatexperiments

  3. Iain Pears _ An Instance of the Fingerpost

    When an experiment was to begin, all women were excluded for fear their irrational natures would influence the result, and an air of fervent concentration descended.
    book-quotesciencewomen

  4. Iain Pears _ Arcadia

    For the sake of objectivity, the programme analysed both histories - real and alternative - without being informed which was which. It concluded that the second, actual sequence of events was statistically so improbable that it could not possibly happen....We are required to believe a} that a drug-addled, womanising inexperienced Catholic with strong links to criminal organisations could defeat the most experienced politician in the country, and that his dire medical condition and dubious character could be kept secret. And also that he could conduct exceptionally successful diplomacy in 1962 while being high as a kite on a coctail of painkillers and stimulants;b} that a president, his brother and several others could all be murdered in a short space of time, by insane gunman, each acting alone, for no discernible reason. Also that Kennedy could be shot by someone with known links to the Soviet Union without there being any consequences;c} that Nixon in office would sanction a pointless burglary, during an election campaign he was bound to win anyway, and that a man with such experience would fail to control the minor political scandal that resulted;d} that 1980 the United States would elect as president an ageing actor with little experience and dyed orange hair.
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  5. Iain Pears _ Arcadia

    Aunt Gertie could not tell the difference between 1928 and now. Uncle Joseph was dead and alive. In other words, she grasped the essential non-existence of time. Generally speaking, our minds impose an entirely artificial order on the world. It is the only way that such an inadequate instrument as our brain can function. It cannot deal with the complexity of reality, so simplifies everything until it can, putting events into an artificial order so they can be dealt with one at a time, rather than all at once as they should be. Such a way of interpreting existence is learnt, rather in the way that our brain has to turn the images which hit our retinas upside down in order to make sense of them. Children have little sense of time; nor do the very old. They live in an ever-present now, which stretches into the past and off into the future. Effect triggers cause, and both happen at the same moment, be that yesterday or tomorrow.
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  6. Iain Pears _ Arcadia

    Just because your choice is predetermined does not mean you do not have a free choice before you take it {516}
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  7. Iain Pears _ An Instance of the Fingerpost

    Mr. Milton set out in his great poem to justify the ways of God to men, as he says. He has not considered one question, however: perhaps God has forbidden men to know His ways, for if they did know the full extent of His goodness, and the magnitude of our rejection of it, they would be so disheartened they would abandon all hope of redemption, and die of grief. I
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  8. Iain Pears _ Arcadia

    I did very much hope that he wasn't frittering away his time on nonsense when he had a fantasy to dream about.
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  9. Iain Pears

    And there will be no waste, I promise you," he went on, waving his finger in the air as he got into his stride."You see, the trouble with the professor is that, once he stops for lunch, he tends to lose interest. He drinks a good deal, you know," he confided. "What's left over gets thrown away or gnawed by rats in the basement. Whereas I will pickle you...

  10. Iain Pears _ An Instance of the Fingerpost

    men had turned their minds to the passion of faction, and learned to despise the old wisdom because they could not read it afresh.
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  11. Iain Pears _ Arcadia

    But what's the point of freedom? Do you think you can change anything?''Of course not. We are waiting.''For what?''Until the world changes on it's own. That is the one truth of history. Everything ends. Civilisations, empires, however powerful and strong. They all end, sooner or later. When it does, we will be there, with all the old ideas and thoughts, preserved and ready to blossom.
    book-quotehistorycivilizationdystopia

  12. Iain Pears _ Arcadia

    although individuals and small events did affect the course of historical development, the influence of even major figures was strictly limited. In"
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