Dorothy Dunnett Quotes

21 Sourced Quotes

Did I ever tell you,' said Lymond pausing on the afterthought, on his way to the flap, 'that that aunt of mine once hatched an egg?' He paused, deep in thought, and walked slowly to the door before turning again. His lordship of Aubigny, staring after the vanishing form of his brother, received the full splendour of Lymond's smile. 'It was a cuckoo,' said Francis Crawford prosaically, and followed Lennox out.

Dorothy Dunnett
And at thirty-eight a brilliant exponent of arms and a knight of the great fighting and religious Order of St John, the Chevalier de Villegagnon had absolutely no use for common sense himself, but respected it in the laity.

Dorothy Dunnett
Verily, God hath eighteen thousand worlds; and verily, your world is one of them, and this its bright axle-tree.

Dorothy Dunnett
My son took many years to learn the simple truth. You cannot love any one person adequately until you have made friends with the rest of the human race also. Adult love demands qualities which cannot be learned living in a vacuum of resentment.

Dorothy Dunnett
Man is a being of varied, manifold and inconstant nature. And woman, by God, is a match for him.

Dorothy Dunnett
For an hour, blended with all she could offer, something noble had been created which had nothing to do with the physical world. And from the turn of his throat, the warmth of his hair, the strong, slender sinews of his hands, something further; which had. Though she combed the earth and searched through the smoke of the galaxies there was no being she wanted but this, who was not and should not be for Philippa Somerville.

Dorothy Dunnett
Depose him,' said Will Scott, astonished. 'The Grand Master's holy office terminates with his life.' 'And can nobody think of an answer to that?' said Will Scott.

Dorothy Dunnett
And the English army, wheeling, started south at a gallop over the hill pass into Ettrick, followed by twenty men and eight hundred sheep in steel helmets.

Dorothy Dunnett
It seems to me,' said Philippa prosaically, 'that on the whole we run more risks with Mr Crawford's protection than without it.

Dorothy Dunnett
I would give you my soul in a blackberry pie; and a knife to cut it with.

Dorothy Dunnett
So she was on her own, Kate thought, and instilled all the friendly helpfulness she could into her next question. Excuse me, but are you the bad company young Mr. Scott has got into?

Dorothy Dunnett
It was one of the occasions when Lymond asleep wrecked the peace of mind of more people than Lymond awake.

Dorothy Dunnett
Versatility is one of the few human traits which are universally intolerable. You may be good at Greek and good at painting and be popular. You may be good at Greek and good at sport, and be wildly popular. But try all three and you're a mountebank. Nothing arouses suspicion quicker than genuine, all-round proficiency.

Dorothy Dunnett
What's wrong? Has Francis been rude? Then you must try to overlook it. I know you wouldn't think so, but he is thoroughly upset by Tom Erskine's death; and when Francis is troubled he doesn't show it, he just goes and makes life wretched for somebody.

Dorothy Dunnett
To the men exposed to his rule Lymond never appeared ill: he was never tired; he was never worried, or pained, or disappointed, or passionately angry. If he rested, he did so alone; if he slept, he took good care to sleep apart. —I sometimes doubt if he's human, said Will, speaking his thought aloud. It's probably all done with wheels.

Dorothy Dunnett
Oh, well. Everyone else has suave, cosmopolitan sheep: why not us? The Millers at Hepple have a ewe that's been to Kelso three times, and they've never been farther than Ford in their lives. Kate peered absently into the farm pond, and clucked again. Thoughtless creatures. They've forgotten the fish.

Dorothy Dunnett
Today,' said Lymond, 'if you must know, I don't like living at all. But that's just immaturity boggling at the sad face of failure. Tomorrow I'll be bright as a bedbug again.

Dorothy Dunnett
If I can't be personal, I don't want to argue, said his hostess categorically. I may be missing your points, but you're much too busy dodging mine.

Dorothy Dunnett
And habits are hell's own substitute for good intentions. Habits are the ruin of ambition, of initiative, of imagination. They're the curse of marriage and the after-bane of death.

Dorothy Dunnett
He regards boredom, I observe, as the One and Mighty Enemy of his soul. And will succeed in conquering it, I am sure—if he survives the experience.

Dorothy Dunnett
But I despised men who accepted their fate. I shaped mine twenty times and had it broken twenty times in my hands.

Dorothy Dunnett