Hugh Laurie concocts an uproarious cocktail of comic zingers and over-the-top action in this "ripping spoof of the spy genre" (Vanity Fair) -- the irresistible tale of a former Scots Guard-turned-hired gun, a freelance soldier of fortune who also happens to be one heck of a nice guy. ... read more
Cold-blooded murder just isn't Thomas Lang's cup of tea. Offered a bundle to assassinate an American industrialist, he opts to warn the intended victim instead -- a good deed that soon takes a bad turn. Quicker than he can down a shot of his favorite whiskey, Lang is bashing heads with a... read more (warning: may contain spoilers)
“Death and disaster are at our shoulders every second of our lives, trying to get at us. Missing, a lot of the time. A lot of miles on the motorway without a front wheel blow-out. A lot of viruses that slither through our bodies without snagging. A lot of pianos that fall a minute after we've passed. Or a month, it makes no difference. So unless we're going to get down on our knees and give thanks every time disaster misses, it makes no sense to moan when it strikes. Us, or anyone else. Because we're not comparing it with anything. And anyway, we're all dead, or never born, and the whole thing really is a dream.There, you see. That's a funny side.”the narrator
Just because it’s a bad job doesn’t mean I have to do it badly.’Highlighted by 42 Kindle customers
So unless we’re going to get down on our knees and give thanks every time disaster misses, it makes no sense to moan when it strikes.Highlighted by 40 Kindle customers
Newton’s Third Law of Conversation, if it existed, would hold that every statement implies an equal and opposite statement. To say that I’d turned the offer down raised the possibility that I might not have done.Highlighted by 32 Kindle customers
Be humble in the face of facts, and proud in the face of opinions, as George Bernard Shaw once said.Highlighted by 29 Kindle customers
I find I often think better when there’s someone else around to think for me.Highlighted by 29 Kindle customers
So the statistician said ‘the odds against there being two, separate, unrelated bombs on board your next flight are exactly ten million to one against.’ The man looked puzzled, and said ‘that’s all well and good, but how does it help me?’ The statistician replied: ‘It’s very simple. You take a bomb on board with you.’Highlighted by 26 Kindle customers
there’s an undeniable pleasure in stepping into an open-top sports car driven by a beautiful woman. It feels like you’re climbing into a metaphor.Highlighted by 21 Kindle customers
You know how it is when you’re caught up in the flow of things. Normally, words are sent from the brain towards the mouth, and somewhere along the line you take a moment to check them, see that they are actually the ones you ordered and that they’re nicely wrapped, before you bundle them on their way towards your palate and out into the fresh air.Highlighted by 18 Kindle customers
In life, night rises from the ground. The day hangs on for as long as it can, bright and eager, absolutely and positively the last guest to leave the party, while the ground darkens, oozing night around your ankles, swallowing for ever that dropped contact lens, making you miss that low catch in the gully on the last ball of the last over.Highlighted by 18 Kindle customers
Given the choice, I’d usually say that the more obvious you are, the more obvious you are, but choice was one of the things I was short of at that moment. Necessity is the mother of self-delusion.Highlighted by 10 Kindle customers
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