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PRIDE_OF_CRAFT

                                              October 16, 2005


   Ian Fleming's "Live and Let Die" (1954)
   Mr. Big expounds, p.51:


  'Mister Bond, I suffer from boredom.  I am a prey
  to what the early Christians called "accidie," the
  deadly lethargy that envelops those who are sated,
  those who have no more desires.  I am absolutely
  pre-eminent in my chosen profession, trusted by
  those who occasionally employ my talents, feared
  and instantly obeyed by those whom I myself employ.
  I have, literally, no more worlds to conquer within
  my chosen orbit.  Alas, if [sic] is too late in my
  life to change that orbit for another one, and
  since power is the goal of all ambition it is
  unlikely that I could possibly acquire more power
  in another sphere than I already possess in this
  one.'


  'Mister Bond, I take pleasure now only in artistry,
  in the polish and finesse which I can bring to my
  operations.  It has become almost a mania with me
  to impart an absolute rightness, a high elegance,
  to the execution of my affairs.  Each day, Mister
  Bond, I try and set myself still higher standards
  of subtlety and technical polish so that each of my
  proceedings may be a work of art, bearing my
  signature as clearly as the creations of, let us
  say, Benvenuto Cellini.  I am content, for the time
  being, to be my only judge, but I sincerely
  believe, Mister Bond, that the approach to
  perfection which I am steadily achieving in my
  operations will ultimately win recognition in the
  history of our times.'

Page numbers Signet paperback edition.


                                             A_GAME_OF_DUMAS

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