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Humans have changed little over time. We think we've invented the modern world but they were making better speeches 2,000 years ago and grappling with issues of empire and terrorism.

Robert Harris

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Robert Harris
Age: 67
Born: 1957
Born: March 7
Journalist
Novelist
Science Fiction Writer
Screenwriter
Writer
Kidderminster
Worcestershire
Robert Dennis Harris
Thinking
Making
Empire
World
Littles
Empires
Better
Invented
Little
Terrorism
Humans
Speech
Years
Changed
Time
Issues
Grappling
Think
Modern
Speeches

More quotes by Robert Harris

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First comes an idea. Then, characters begin to evolve out of the landscape of that idea. And then, finally, characters dominate: plot is simply a function of what these people might do or be. Everything has to flow from their personalities otherwise it will not be emotionally engaging, or plausible.
Robert Harris
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Don't try to write too much in a single session. One thousand words a day is quite enough. Stop after about four or five hours.
Robert Harris
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You can always spot a fool, for he is a man who will tell you he knows who is going to win an election.
Robert Harris
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It is perseverance, and not genius that takes a man to the top. Rome is full of unrecognized geniuses. Only perseverance enables you to move forward in the world.
Robert Harris
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Egyptologists, skilled in piecing together the papyri of lost civilisations, suddenly discovered that the same talent could be applied to working out the pattern of German radio traffic.
Robert Harris
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A police state is a country run by criminals
Robert Harris
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You can't make sense of the present unless a part of you lives in the past.
Robert Harris
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Of all human activities, writing is the one for which it is easiest to find excuses not to begin – the desk’s too big, the desk’s too small, there’s too much noise, there’s too much quiet, it’s too hot, too cold, too early, too late. I had learned over the years to ignore them all, and simply to start.
Robert Harris
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For me, as I suspect for most people, there comes a point where you have enough. If you've got £20 million, why keep going until you've got £100 million or £1,000 million? Does anyone need another vast yacht or private jet or a house full of gold?
Robert Harris
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Suicide leaves everyone feeling guilty.
Robert Harris
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History is what we bring to it, not just the events themselves, but how we interpret those events.
Robert Harris
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People perish. Books are immortal.
Robert Harris
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Politics? Boring? Politics is history on the wing! What other sphere of human activity calls forth all that is most noble in men's souls, and all that is most base? Or has such excitement? Or more vividly exposes our strengths and weaknesses? Boring? You might as well say that life itself is boring!
Robert Harris
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One cannot see any world leader who has got a grip on the financial markets these days. They're too big, too fast. I think that's quite scary.
Robert Harris
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History is too important to be left to the historians.
Robert Harris
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Cicero most reminds me of Harold Wilson. Both men knew how to keep the show on the road.
Robert Harris
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[Boxer is] the ultimate tool for the serious pro' that can't afford the time and patience to mess around with lesser products.
Robert Harris
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Working 14 hours a day until you're 55 and missing your kids growing up is not what I would consider a recipe for happiness.
Robert Harris
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That young man seeks opportunities to test his principles as readily as a drunk picks fights in a bar.
Robert Harris
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Storytelling has a narcotic power.
Robert Harris