About Dick Francis: Richard Stanley "Dick" Francis was a British steeplechase jockey and crime writer, whose novels centre on horse racing in England.
one should never assume anything
Love's easy to learn. It's like taking a risk. You set your mind on it and refuse to be afraid, and in no time you feel terrifically exhilarated and all your inhibitions fly out of the window.
The dignity of man was everywhere tissue-paper thin.
If ever you get invited into someone's home,' my father said (as he had been invited five or six times that morning), 'you go into the sitting-room and you say, “Oh, what an attractive room!" even if you think it's hideous.
Never ever make a joke to the police, they have no sense of humour. Never make a political joke, it will always be considered an insult. Always remember that umbrage can be taken by the lift of an eyebrow. Remember that if offence can possibly be tak...
But what do you say if you're asked a direct question and you can't tell the truth and you can't tell a lie?' 'You say “how very interesting” and change the subject.
But people as a rule believe only what they want to believe, and if you tell them anything else they'll call you a trouble-maker and get rid of you and never give you your job back, even if what you said is proved spot on right by time.
It's people with obsessions who do the real harm in the world.
Silly,' he said with mock serenity, 'isn't a word you should ever apply to people. They may be totally stupid, in fact, but if you call them silly you've lost their vote.
People always kill Caesar. Don't trust anyone.
Life has a way of kicking one along like a football, or so I've found. Fate had never dealt me personally a particularly easy time, but that was OK, that was normal. Most people, it seemed to me, took their turn to be football. Most survived. Some di...
But one discarded dreams and got dressed, and made what one could of the day.
I guessed life was like that. You gained and you lost, and if you saved anything from the ruins, even if only a shred of self-respect, it was enough to take you through the next bit.
Most people think, when they're young, that they're going to the top of their chosen world, and that the climb up is only a formality. Without that faith, I suppose, they might never start. Somewhere on the way they lift their eyes to the summit and ...
Some are born weird, some achieve it, others have weirdness thrust upon them.
Crime to many is not crime but simply a way of life. If laws are inconvenient, ignore them, they don't apply to you.
I wondered to what extent people remained the same as they'd been when very young; if one peeled back the layers of living one would come to the know child.
Historically, more people have died of religion than cancer.
