We can experience nothing but the present moment, live in no other second of time, and to understand this is as close as we can get to eternal life.
P. D. JamesBut what do you believe? I don't just mean religion. What are you sure of?" "That once I was not and that now I am. That one day I shall no longer be.
P. D. JamesHistory, which interprets the past to understand the present and confront the future is the least rewarding discipline for a dying species.
P. D. JamesMurder is the unique crime, the only one for which we can never make reparation to the victim.
P. D. JamesI wonder if childhood is ever really happy. Just as well, perhaps. To be blissfully happy so young would leave one always seeking to recapture the unobtainable. Like those people who were always happiest at school or university. Always going back. No reunion ever missed. It always seemed to me rather pathetic.
P. D. James