Lost Horizon
If I were to put it into a very few words, my dear sir, I should say that our prevalent belief is in moderation. We inculcate the virtue of avoiding excess of all kinds---even including, if you pardon the paradox, excess of virtue itself. In the valley which you have seen, ... we have found that the principle makes for a considerable degree of happiness. We rule with moderate strictness, and in return we are satisfied with moderate obedience. And I think I can claim that our people are moderately sober, moderately chaste, and moderately honest. p 76
And this is what I will be saying in response to everything.
I regret, sir, that you have touched upon a matter which I may not discuss. I can only add that our community has various faiths and usages, but we are most of us moderately heretical about them. I am deeply grieved that at the moment I cannot say more.
p76
...but the truth is, journeys of that kind don't suit me, and I have to take care of myself. p 69
It's because so much else that I can look back on seems nightmarish too. p67
If you had all the experiences I've had, you'd know that there are times in life when the most comfortable thing is to do nothing at all. Things happen to you and you just let them happen. The War was rather like that. One is fortunate if, as on this occasion, a touch of novelty seasons the unpleasantness. p65
Of course not, because then there was a chance that I could alter events by my own actions. But now, for hte moment at least, there's no such chance. We're here because we're here, if you want a reason. I've usually found it a soothing one.
One had to breathe consciously and deliberately, which, though disconcerting at first, induced after a time an almost ecstatic tranquility of mind. The hwole body moved in a single rhythm of breathing, walking, and thinking; the lungs, no longer discrete and automatic, were disciplined to harmony with mind and limb.
There were moments in life when one opened wide one's soul just as one might open wide... p62
And this is what I will be saying in response to everything.
I regret, sir, that you have touched upon a matter which I may not discuss. I can only add that our community has various faiths and usages, but we are most of us moderately heretical about them. I am deeply grieved that at the moment I cannot say more.
p76
...but the truth is, journeys of that kind don't suit me, and I have to take care of myself. p 69
It's because so much else that I can look back on seems nightmarish too. p67
If you had all the experiences I've had, you'd know that there are times in life when the most comfortable thing is to do nothing at all. Things happen to you and you just let them happen. The War was rather like that. One is fortunate if, as on this occasion, a touch of novelty seasons the unpleasantness. p65
Of course not, because then there was a chance that I could alter events by my own actions. But now, for hte moment at least, there's no such chance. We're here because we're here, if you want a reason. I've usually found it a soothing one.
One had to breathe consciously and deliberately, which, though disconcerting at first, induced after a time an almost ecstatic tranquility of mind. The hwole body moved in a single rhythm of breathing, walking, and thinking; the lungs, no longer discrete and automatic, were disciplined to harmony with mind and limb.
There were moments in life when one opened wide one's soul just as one might open wide... p62