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Fleming quotes on risk, chance, or irrationality (particularly in relation to casinos)

darren_blacksmithdarren_blacksmith
in Literary 007 Posts: 678
Hi, I'm researching a book and want to find a good quote from Ian Fleming about risk, chance, irrationality/rationality in 'weighing up odds' etc, perhaps from one of the bond books in relation to gambling or casinos. I searched through Casino Royale (as I thought this would be where I'd be most likely to find such a quote), but to no avail. Can any literary Fleming experts help please? Many thanks!

Comments

  • SandySandy Somewhere in Europe
    Posts: 4,012
    I haven't read CR for a while, but I seem to remember some talk of odds when Bond is teaching Vesper how to play Baccarat (the choice of whether to ask for another card). Other than that I guess MR, but I'm not sure at the moment.
  • BerryBerry
    Posts: 14
    Fleming said "you can't beat the house" in casino royale
  • darren_blacksmithdarren_blacksmith
    Posts: 678
    Thanks. I'll try and search through Moonraker.
  • royale65royale65 Caustic misanthrope reporting for duty.
    Posts: 4,421
    There's a portion about gambling odds in America in Diamonds Are Forever too
  • RevelatorRevelator
    Posts: 2,895
    You might want to try the chapter on Monte Carlo in Thrilling Cities.
    There's also a great passage from the opening of Chapter 7 of Casino Royale:
    Above all, he liked it that everything was one's own fault. 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. But it had to be understood and recognized for what it was and not confused with a faulty appreciation of the odds, for, at gambling, the deadly sin is to mistake bad play for bad luck. And luck in all its moods had to be loved and not feared Bond saw luck as a woman, to be softly wooed or brutally ravaged, never pandered to or pursued. But he was honest enough to admit that he had never yet been made to suffer by cards or by women. One day, and he
    accepted the fact he would be brought to his knees by love or by luck. When that happened he knew that he too would be branded with the deadly question-mark he recognized so often in others, the promise to pay before you have lost: the acceptance of fallibility.
  • darren_blacksmithdarren_blacksmith
    Posts: 678
    Thanks very much Royale65 and Revelator!
  • 007InVT007InVT Classified
    Posts: 893
    Also check Fleming's intro to Herbert Yardley's Education of a Poker Player - http://literary007.com/2013/12/26/ian-fleming-introduces-the-education-of-a-poker-player/
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