Henry Sugar was forty-one years old and unmarried. He was also wealthy. He was wealthy because he had had a rich father who was now dead. He was unmarried because he was too selfish to share any of his money with a wife.
(117p. THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR, Penguin Random House UK, 2011) - P117
These people all employ the same methods for trying to increase their fortunes. They buy stocks and shares, and watch them going up and down. They play roulette and blackjack for high stakes in casinos. They bet on horses. They bet on just about everything. Henry Sugar had once staked a thousand pounds on the result of a tortoise race on Lord Liverpool‘s tennis lawn. And he had wagered double that sum with a man called Esmond Hanbury on an even sillier bet, which was as follows: they let Henry‘s dog out into the garden and they watched it through the window.
But before the dog was let out, each man had to guess beforehand what would be the first object the dog would lift its leg against. Would it be a wall, a post, a bush or a tree? Esmond chose a wall. Henry, who had been studying his dog‘s habits for days with a view to making this particular bet, chose a tree, and he won the money.
(119p. THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR, Penguin Random House UK, 2011) - P119
The very rich are enormously resentful of bad weather. It is the one discomfort that their money cannot do anything about.
(119p. THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR, Penguin Random House UK, 2011) - P119
This was good stuff. It was fascinating. He carried the little book over to a leather armchair by the window and settled himself comfortably. Then he started reading again from the beginning.
(121p. THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR, Penguin Random House UK, 2011) - P121
"I am an Indian, a Hindu," said Imhrat Khan, "and I was born in Akhnur, in Kashmir State, in 1905. My family is poor and my father worked as a ticket inspector on the railway. When I was a small boy of thirteen, an Indian conjurer comes to our school and gives a performance. His name, I remember, is Professor Moor -- all conjurers in India call themselves ‘professor‘ -- and his tricks are very good. I am tremendously impressed. I think it is real magic. I feel -- how shall I call it -- I feel a powerful wish to learn about this magic myself, so two days later I run away from home, determined to find and to follow my new hero, Professor Moor. I take all my savings, fourteen rupees, and only the clothes I am wearing. I am wearing a white dhoti and sandals. This is in 1918 and I am thirteen years old.
(134p. THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR, Penguin Random House UK, 2011) - P134
He would steal the little book from the library so that none of his friends might come upon it by chance and learn the secret. He would carry the book with him wherever he went. It would be his bible. He couldn‘t possibly go out and find a real live yogi to instruct him, so the book would be his yogi instead. It would be his teacher.
(159p. THE WONDERFUL STORY OF HENRY SUGAR, Penguin Random House UK, 2011) - P159
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