57 Inspirational Ian Fleming Quotes [2024]

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Updated: January 20th, 2022

Ian Fleming was a British author, journalist, and naval intelligence officer.

He was best known for his James Bond series of spy novels. The Bond stories rank among the best-selling series of fictional books of all time, having sold over 100 million copies worldwide. In 2008, The Times ranked Fleming 14th on its list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945".

We've put together an incredible collection of Ian Fleming quotes to read.

Here they are:

57 Inspirational Ian Fleming Quotes [2024]

List of Inspiring Ian Fleming Quotes

“Never say 'no' to adventures. Always say 'yes,' otherwise, you'll lead a very dull life.” - Ian Fleming

“The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success” - Ian Fleming

“A woman can put up with almost anything; anything but indifference.” - Ian Fleming

“I think it's the same with all the relationships between a man and a woman. They can survive anything so long as some kind of basic humanity exists between the two people. When all kindness has gone, when one person obviously and sincerely doesn't care if the other is alive or dead, then it's just no good." - Ian Fleming

“Everyone has the revolver of resignation in his pocket.” - Ian Fleming, Casino Royale

“Hope makes a good breakfast. Eat plenty of it.” - Ian Fleming, From Russia With Love

“The gain to the winner is always less than the loss to the loser.” - Ian Fleming, Live and Let Die

“Love of life is born of the awareness of death, of the dread of it.” - Ian Fleming, The Spy Who Loved Me

"I shall not waste my days in trying to prolong them." - Ian Fleming

“You only live twice: Once when you are born and once when you look death in the face” - Ian Fleming, You Only Live Twice

“Unfortunately most ways of making big money take a long time. By the time one has made the money one is too old to enjoy it.” - Ian Fleming, Goldfinger

"It's no good protecting people or even looking after them past a certain point. One can't grasp more than a piece of anyone. Most of the rest can only be protected by themselves and the remainder by hired specialists and doctors and dentists and professional protectors." - Ian Fleming

"And people with obsessions, reflected Bond, were blind to danger." - Ian Fleming

"You start to die the moment you are born. The whole of life is cutting through the pack with death. So take it easy.” - Ian Fleming, Live and Let Die

"Diamonds are forever." - Ian Fleming

“Prohibition is the trigger of crime.” - Ian Fleming, Goldfinger

“Once is happenstance. Twice is a coincidence. Three times is enemy action” - Ian Fleming

"There is only one recipe for a best seller and it is a very simple one. You have to get the reader to turn over the page." - Ian Fleming

"Never job backward. What might have been was a waste of time." - Ian Fleming

"Shaken and not stirred." - Ian Fleming

“You are about to awake when you dream that you are dreaming.” - Ian Fleming

“When she had failed once or twice to respond to some conversational gambit or other, Bond also relapsed into silence and occupied himself with his own gloomy thoughts.” - Ian Fleming, Casino Royale

“Once a King, always a King. But once a Knight is enough!” - Ian Fleming, From Russia With Love

“When the odds are hopeless, when all seems to be lost, then is the time to be calm, to make a show of authority – at least of indifference” - Ian Fleming, On Her Majesty's Secret Service

“Surround yourself with human beings. They are easier to fight for than principles.” - Ian Fleming, Casino Royale

“Worry is a dividend paid to disaster before it is due." - Ian Fleming

"If I wait for the genius to come, it just doesn't arrive." - Ian Fleming

“Danger, like a third man, was standing in the room.” - Ian Fleming, From Russia With Love

“History is moving pretty quickly these days, and the heroes and villains keep on changing parts.” - Ian Fleming (1953)

“And then one day when you're playing your little game you'll suddenly find yourself pinned down like a butterfly.” - \Ian Fleming

“Never send a man where you can send a bullet.” - Ian Fleming, For Your Eyes Only

“Bond didn't defend the practice. He simply maintained that the more effort and ingenuity you put into gambling, the more you took out.” - Ian Fleming

“Why not make it for always?” - Ian Fleming, On Her Majesty's Secret Service

“If you fail at the large things it means you have no large ambitions. Concentration, focus - that is all. The aptitudes come, the tools forge themselves.” -Ian Fleming, Doctor No

“You never get real adventures without a bit of risk somewhere.”- Ian Fleming, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

“Don't lose faith in your stars.” - Ian Fleming, Live and Let Die

“Follow your fate, and be satisfied with it, and be glad not to be a second-hand motor salesman, or a yellow-press journalist, pickled in gin and nicotine, or a cripple - or dead.” - Ian Fleming, From Russia With Love

“At Gambling, the deadly sin is to mistake bad play for bad luck.” - Ian Fleming

“The World Is Not Enough” - Ian Fleming, On Her Majesty's Secret Service

“Our prisons are full of people who think they're Napoleon..or God.” - Ian Fleming, Doctor No

"Older women are best because they always think they may be doing it for the last time." - Ian Fleming

“The difference between a good golf shot and a bad one is the same as the difference between a beautiful and a plain woman --a matter of millimeters.”- Ian Fleming, Goldfinger

“A scar had been beaten into his mind which would only heal by experience.” - Ian Fleming, Casino Royale

“Bond remembered the dictum of the pros: ‘It’s never too early to start winning.” - Ian Fleming, Goldfinger

“Even the highest tree has an axe waiting at its foot.” - Ian Fleming, From Russia With Love

“We’re both traveling bad roads and all bad roads lead to the bad town.” - Ian Fleming, Diamonds are Forever

“Some love is fire, some love is rust. But the finest, cleanest love is lust.” - Ian Fleming, Goldfinger

“Power is the goal of all ambition,” - Ian Fleming, Live and Let Die

“It just occurred to me that life’s too short. Plenty of time to watch the calories when one goes to heaven.” - Ian Fleming, Thunderball

“Fear was the impulse. For them, it was always safer to advance than to retreat. Advance against the enemy and the bullet might miss you. Retreat, evade, betray, and the bullet would never miss.” - Ian Fleming, Casino Royale

“Now in order to tell the difference between good and evil, we have manufactured two images representing the extremes – representing the deepest black and the purest white – and we call them God and the Devil. But in doing so we have cheated a bit. God is a clear image, you can see every hair on His beard. But the Devil. What does he look like?’" - Ian Fleming, Casino Royale

“He says that courage is a capital sum reduced by expenditure.” - Ian Fleming, Doctor No

“What an extraordinary difference there was between a body full of a person and a body that was empty! Now there is someone, now there is no one.” - Ian Fleming, Goldfinger

“Perhaps, after all, the right man was better than the right machine.” - Ian Fleming, From Russia With Love

“I wouldn’t be surprised if in fifty years’ time we have not totally exhausted the gold content of the earth!” - Ian Fleming, Goldfinger

“There was only oneself to praise or blame. Luck was a servant and not a master. Luck had to be accepted with a shrug or taken advantage of up to the hilt.” - Ian Fleming, Casino Royale

“Because people are very careful with the secrets of their own business doesn’t mean that they’ll be careful with the secrets of yours.” - Ian Fleming, Octopussy and the Living Daylights

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Pat Walls

I'm Pat Walls and I created Starter Story - a website dedicated to helping people start businesses. We interview entrepreneurs from around the world about how they started and grew their businesses.

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