Graham Greene Novelist
- Gender: Male
- Citizenship: United Kingdom
- Born: Oct 2, 1904
- Died: Apr 3, 1991
Henry Graham Greene, OM, CH was an English novelist and author regarded as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century. Combining literary acclaim with widespread popularity, Greene had acquired a reputation early in his own lifetime as a great writer, both of serious Catholic novels and of thrillers; however, even though shortlisted in 1967, he was never awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Through 67 years of writings which included over 25 novels, he explored the ambivalent moral and political issues of the modern world through a Catholic perspective.
Although Greene objected strongly to being described as a Roman Catholic novelist rather than as a novelist who happened to be Catholic, Catholic religious themes are at the root of much of his writing, especially the four major Catholic novels: Brighton Rock, The Power and the Glory, The Heart of the Matter and The End of the Affair; which are regarded as "the gold standard" of the Catholic novel. Several works such as The Confidential Agent, The Third Man, The Quiet American, Our Man in Havana and The Human Factor also show an avid interest in the workings of international politics and espionage.
Morality comes with the sad wisdom of age, when the sense of curiosity has withered.
age, sad & wisdom
There is always one moment in childhood when the door opens and lets the future in.
future
Human nature is not black and white but black and grey.
nature
In human relationships, kindness and lies are worth a thousand truths.
relationship
Failure too is a form of death.
death & failure
In Switzerland they had brotherly love, five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did they produce? The cuckoo clock!
peace
Success is more dangerous than failure, the ripples break over a wider coastline.
failure & success
We are all of us resigned to death: it's life we aren't resigned to.
death
No human being can really understand another, and no one can arrange another's happiness.
happiness
Heresy is another word for freedom of thought.
freedom
It is impossible to go through life without trust: that is to be imprisoned in the worst cell of all, oneself.
trust