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10 Ken Follett Quotes from the Giant of History

By June 5, 2017June 4th, 2018Authors, Quotations

Born in Cardiff, Wales on 5th June 1949, Ken Follett is the author of many thrillers and historical novels having sold more then 150 million copies of his works. Many of these works have reached number 1 on the New York Times Bestsellers List including the Century Trilogy, the historical WWI novels comprising Fall of Giants, Winter of the World, and Edge of Eternity, some of his best known works.

Much of his work is inspired by both history and his upbringing in the Welsh capital. Follett began his career writing for the South Wales Echo after leaving university in 1970, but by the late 70s had moved towards literature as deputy managing director to a small publishing house. During this time he began writing fiction during the evenings and weekends, gradually seeing small success. As the author himself would say, the rest is history, quite literally!

“A baby was like a revolution, Grigori thought: you could start one, but you could not control how it would turn out.”

“Why was it, Lloyd wondered, that the people who wanted to destroy everything good about their country were the quickest to wave the national flag?”

“The greater their ignorance, the stronger their opinions.”

“Trusting someone was like holding a little water in your cupped hands – it was so easy to spill the water, and you could never get it back.”

“And here’s my advice to you. If you get the chance of the mad kind of love, grab it with both hands, and to hell with the consequences.”



“She loved him because he had brought her back to life. She had been like a caterpillar in a cocoon, and he had drawn her out and shown her that she was a butterfly.”

“She was unique: there was something abnormal about her, and it was that abnormal something that made her magnetic.”

“I think more people should shoot newspaper editors…it might improve the press”

“You never get cheered for telling people the situation is not as simple as they think.”

“Culture clash is terrific drama”

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