Just finished
Lost Horizon by James Hilton. This 1933 fairy tale for adults holds up well and there's much food for thought in this short and enjoyable 163-page tale. Hilton draws a picture of his fictional Shangri-La that makes it seem at times an irresistible paradise.
Here are a few of my favorite lines from the book:
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“The jewel has facets,” said the Chinese, “and it is possible that many religions are moderately true.”
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“Mozart has an austere elegance which we find very satisfying. He builds a house which is neither too big nor too little, and he furnishes it in perfect taste.”
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“The first quarter-century of your life was doubtless lived under the cloud of being too young for things, while the last quarter-century would normally be shadowed by the still darker cloud of being too old for them; and between those two clouds, what small and narrow sunlight illumines a human lifetime!”
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“Laziness in doing stupid things can be a great virtue.”
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“We may expect no mercy, but we may faintly hope for neglect.”
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Conway remarked with a smile: “I suppose you’re certain, then, that no human affection can outlast a five-year absence?”
“It can, undoubtedly,” replied the Chinese, “but only as a fragrance whose melancholy we may enjoy.”
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“It is significant,” he said after a pause, “that the English regard slackness as a vice. We, on the other hand, should vastly prefer it to tension. Is there not too much tension in the world at present, and might it not be better if more people were slackers?”
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...a liveliness so gentle and miniature that he had an impression of a theorem dissolving limpidly into a sonnet.
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“People make mistakes in life through believing too much, but they have a damned dull time if they believe too little.”
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