- The amount of comfort. All love and friendship is based in the end on that. When the
quantum of solace stands at zero, you've got to get away to save yourself. From Ian Fleming's short
story of the same name in the
Bond collection For Your Eyes Only.
The Governor paused and looked reflectively over at Bond. He said: "You're not married, but I think it's the same with all 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. That particular insult to the
ego - worse, to the instinct of self-preservation - can never be forgiven. I've noticed this in hundreds of marriages. I've seen flagrant infidelitiespatched up, I've seen crimes and even
murder forgiven by the other party, let alone bankruptcy and every other form of social crime. Incurable disease, blindness, disaster - all these can be overcome. But
never the death of common humanity in one of the partners. I've thought about this and I've invented a rather high-sounding title for this
basic factor in human relations. I have called it the Law of the Quantum of Solace."
