Favorite Fleming quotes

Tracy

I've been reading the FYEO short story collection recently, and I was pleasantly reminded of Fleming's pithiness. His aphorisms hold up as well as John le Carre's. These are just a few of my favorite quotes that I've highlighted in my book copies.

Casino Royale.

Bond and Mathis' conversation about the devil and his disciples ranks as my favorite dialogue scene in the series.

"Surround yourself with human beings, my dear James. They are easier to fight for than principles."

"Above all, he liked it that everything was one's own fault. There was only oneself to praise or blame. Luck was a servant and not a master. Luck had to be accepted with a shrug or taken advantage of up to the hilt. But it had to be understood and recognized for what it was and not confused with a faulty appreciation of the odds, for, at gambling, the deadly sin is to mistake bad play for bad luck. And luck in all its moods had to be loved and not feared."

"Everyone has the revolver of resignation in his pocket."

Moonraker
"He shrugged his shoulders to shift the pain of failure---the pain that is so much greater than the pleasure of success."

For Your Eyes Only
"You can get far in North America with laconic grunts. "Huh," "hun," and "hi!" in their various modulations, together with "sure," "guess so," "that so?" and "nuts!" will meet almost any contingency."


I'm curious as to what your favorite quotes are.

Hardyboy

"Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, the third time is enemy action." Goldfinger

Napoleon Plural

"Those whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make bored."

little nelly

"Da guy ain't got no sensayuma"

Mr_Ice

"Those who deserve to die, die the death they deserve."

Napoleon Plural

"Mmm, so can Christmas but you won't catch me stuffing your turkey!"

Peppermill

One I really like is:

'I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them'

Tokyo Matt

hello Mr. Peppermill.

Yes. That's a good one. Bondish and Flemingish. Bestest so far for me. Most appropriate too.

Lots of good quotes from Mr. Fleming. I'm reading my way through his books for the first time. I'll post as I get to any I like.

"Once a King, always a King. But once a knight is quite enough."

Not the best. Not my favourite. But a quote worth quoteing.

Golrush007

little nelly wrote:

"Da guy ain't got no sensayuma"

That is definitely one of my favourites.

I also like what Fleming said about his books being "aimed somewhere between the solar plexus and the upper thigh".

Tokyo Matt

Are these quotes?

I lke the way Bond flirts with his secretary by playing with her name........

"Good morning, Goodnight. What can I do for you? Is it war or peace."

"So long, Mary. or rather goodnight, Goodnight."

I like a lot of the name's Fleming gave his characters. Moneypenny, Sable Basilisk, Wint and Kidd.

Names can add a certain something. In the early drafts of the Star Wars scripts, Luke Skywalker's name was, (oh dear!), Luke Starkiller. See what I mean?

Peppermill

Hello Mr Tokyo Matt, I remember that the first time I read that quote (Once a king (…) is quite enough) I had to put the book down because I had just took a sip of tea and I was trying very hard not to a) choke b) get the tea to spill on my book. Fleming has lots of great lines in his books, but most of them aren’t very funny. Well, this one is!

Tokyo Matt

I don't have much in common with James Bond. I'm not tall, I'm not dark, I'm not handsome.

But we do share this train of thought from OHMSS.............talking about money.

"I have enough, Tracey has enough. It wil be fun saving up to buy something we can't quite afford. That is the only money to have - not quite enough."

Difficult for some people to swallow when they are trying to make ends meet. Sorry. I know times are hard. For me too.

But I've been poor, then rich, then poor again.

You do tend to appreciate things when you have to work for them.