H.M. Forester > Quotes

“There are universal laws at work, even here. The Law of Attraction; the Law of Correspondence; and the Law of Karma. That is: like attracts like; as within, so without; and what goes around comes around.”
― H.M. Forester, Game of Aeons

“I? This is the very root of all evil.”
― H.M. Forester, The Dissidents

“There is no such thing as 'just one last cigarette' – except the last cigarette that you've already had.”
― H.M. Forester, Game of Aeons

“We're all teased or pressured into conforming to the all-levelling social norms of mediocrity.”
― H.M. Forester

“Smoking is suicide by instalments.”
― H.M. Forester, Game of Aeons

“There's nowhere else to escape to ... Except in a wooden box, that is.”
― H.M. Forester, Game of Aeons

“The use of drugs is not an effective means of facilitating real escape. It merely gives that erroneous and illusive impression. Well, illusive with an I and elusive with an E. At best, narcotics do no more than promote bonhomie and give you a temporary taste of what freedom might be like; and drugs take you into another sub-level of, or sub-culture in, the same old game. The same old game, but with additional consequences. And at worst, well ... suffice it to say that you really, really do not want to go there.”
― H.M. Forester, Game of Aeons

“A motto of many politicians, public servants and money bags: Ask not 'What can I do for you?' but 'What can I do you for?”
― H.M. Forester

“The worst of all was to be faced with the interrogation technique of Thirty Seconds. The interrogator would say something and you had to respond quickly, without once repeating yourself or using the personal pronoun. Very few dissidents could last the full thirty seconds, and a refusal to comply was taken as equal proof of dissidence.”
― H.M. Forester, The Dissidents

“Why does there appear to be so little magic in the world these days? It is because people have stopped believing in it or lose touch with it as they grow up. It is because we have become so sophisticated and lost our ancient and natural roots. It is because religion, science and education have taught us that magic does not exist. That even supposing it does exist – which to many is far too big an 'if' – then it couldn't possibly work. Their self-fulfilling sophistry complete, they then turn round and say 'There you are you see, there is no magic in the world, just as we said.' And we and the world are all the poorer as a result of this. I mean, what are we left with? Santa, the Easter Bunny, Harry Potter and the Tooth Fairy.”
― H.M. Forester, Game of Aeons

“Real patience is not the same as waiting impatiently for something for a long time. Patience is having patience with patience.”
― H.M. Forester

“Now, sorcery rules the world. Of course, most don't call it sorcery; indeed, many would be horrified by such a notion. Instead, they use words like ideology, politics, defence, security, patriotism, commerce, industry, marketing, consumerism and belief. But where there is power-seeking, especially power over others or for oneself, though also over oneself, and be it wittingly or unwittingly conjured up, make no mistake: there is sorcery afoot. It just comes in different shades and colours, that's all.”
― H.M. Forester, Game of Aeons

“Sorcery rules the world. Of course, most don't call it sorcery; indeed, many would be horrified by such a notion.”
― H.M. Forester, Game of Aeons

“Of course the reason that the Authorities have banned the stuff is not so much the detrimental effect on one's health, however genuine that might be, but rather that those who regularly partake in the illicit herb tend to lose all interest in playing the game by other people's rules. And that is in direct contravention of the Commandments, the first of which is: Thou shalt play the Game by the rules; the second being: Thou shalt not drop out of the Game.”
― H.M. Forester, Game of Aeons

“There comes a point when you stop thinking of you playing the game, and you simply become a part of – and merge into – and become lost in – the game.”
― H.M. Forester, Game of Aeons

“Their methods were especially crude and most of these former friends were now born again model citizens; lobotomized; or burnt out shells.”
― H.M. Forester, The Dissidents

“More recently, we’ve reached the lowest common denominator, and populism, politics and media have dispensed with old-fashioned values such as truth, honour and chivalry, to the point of arguing, in an Orwellian way, that “up is down”, “wrong is right”, and “truth is fake news”.”
― H.M. Forester, Secret Friends: The Ramblings of a Madman in Search of a Soul

“All you had to do was crack up and beg to see the Governor; grovel at his feet and admit to being a dissident; heartily repent your sins, and volunteer for elective brain surgery.”
― H.M. Forester, The Dissidents

“Can I tempt you? Go on, be a devil.”
― H.M. Forester, Game of Aeons

“Only later – much, much later, and after losing all hope and undergoing a seemingly interminable Dark Night of the Soul – would Louie begin to see how Shah’s own work tied in with others. Not only among Sufis, nor in the general fields of spirituality and mysticism, nor in the work of Shah’s own family, friends of Shah, and friends of friends of Shah, and people who quoted people quoting Shah, but in diverse fields and in the town’s marketplace, mucky alleyways and smoke-clouded taverns of everyday life. That was a whole new vista, a continent beyond Shah’s own island – vast, exotic, and apparently self-contained as it had been, and yet not all and everything. Looking back, this wonderful caravanserai had been a very necessary, and much loved, step or two along the way.”
― H.M. Forester, Secret Friends: The Ramblings of a Madman in Search of a Soul

“There was a great joke that was forever doing the rounds in the jail and it was probably funny not because it had a humorous punchline but because it was so very true at a deep psychological level. Put anyone in that jail and soon enough they'd actually become a cruel, twisted, sadistic and heartless thug. And some of the prisoners were just as bad.”
― H.M. Forester, The Dissidents

“As well as this, there were of course many sceptics and detractors, not only of Shah but of his students and his would-be or wanna-be students. They’d say things like “You’ve been studying for – what? – 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years. And where has it got got you, eh? Eh? Nowhere.” And there really was no answer to that, other than to simply try to show a good example, and hope that some might sense subtle signs of progress having been made. But no: they wanted to see Gandalf with his whizz-bangs. Unlike Rabia, we couldn’t magically produce an onion out of thin air – an incontrovertible act – and later retort: “What? Do you think that God is a greengrocer, or something?”
― H.M. Forester, Secret Friends: The Ramblings of a Madman in Search of a Soul

“Creating distrust, division, confusion, and chaos, leading to massive societal dysfunction and collapse, is not a bug in the MAGA plan due to incompetence in personnel picks and policy: it’s a very deliberate design feature, and it will have dire global consequences.

And for accelerationists, evangelicals, fundamentalists, and Christian nationalists, it’s all a part of the big plan for the End Times.”
― H.M. Forester

“There really is more to this world than meets the casual or untutored eye.”
― H.M. Forester, Game of Aeons

“Maybe like the never-ending stories within stories of the One Thousand and One Nights, life is dream within dream all the way through?”
― H.M. Forester, Game of Aeons

“When it came to dealing with feral dissidents, there was only one unwritten law that superseded all others: "An' it secure a conviction, do what thou wilt.”
― H.M. Forester

“Welcome to Level 2. Or, as it is sometimes affectionately referred to by the Friends: God's Little Joke.”
― H.M. Forester, Game of Aeons

“Red pill or blue pill? If only it were that simple. You've been watching the wrong movies.”
― H.M. Forester, Game of Aeons

“It’s not simply a matter of accumulating data points, though in the early stages there is a necessity to take the raw material on-board. If anything, rather than carrying a large inventory, knowledge arrives “just in time”, without the expensive overhead of warehousing, in response to the needs of time, place, people and circumstances.”
― H.M. Forester, Secret Friends: The Ramblings of a Madman in Search of a Soul

“An angry man will find himself in an angry world, and a swindler will find himself in a world of thieves whom he dare not trust. Like attracts and mirrors like.”
― H.M. Forester, Game of Aeons