Dorothy Dunnett
Dorothy Dunnett
Dorothy Dunnett OBEwas a Scottish historical novelist. She is best known for her six-part series about Francis Crawford of Lymond, The Lymond Chronicles, which she followed with the eight-part prequel The House of Niccolò. She also wrote a novel about the historical Macbeth called King Hereafter, and a series of mystery novels centred on Johnson Johnson, a portrait painter/spy...
ambition imagination ruins
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.
knives
Music, the knife without a hilt,
men height might
A man of over thirty might be held to be at the height of his powers, but not necessarily of his wisdom.
tree world thousand
Verily, God hath eighteen thousand worlds; and verily, your world is one of them, and this its bright axle-tree.
religious fighting knights
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.
son simple race
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.
past links joining
Where are the links of the chain ... joining us to the past?
genius wasting-time resentment
Lack of genius never held anyone back. Only time wasted on resentment and daydreaming can do that.
giving-up mean men
[Robin Stewart] was your man. True for you, you had withdrawn the crutch from his sight, but still it should have been there in your hand, ready for him. For you are a leader-don't you know it? I don't, surely, need to tell you?-And that is what leadership means. It means fortifying the fainthearted and giving them the two sides of your tongue while you are at it. It means suffering weak love and schooling it till it matures. It means giving up you privicies, your follies and your leasure. It means you can love nothing and no one too much, or you are no longer a leader, you are led.
giving tourists limits
After I convinced them that I was a harmless novelist, I actually got them to give me a tour of the harem - which is usually off limits for tourists.
mother father games
But it's also because of something personal. My mother and father met while playing chess, so I've always had a fondness for the game. If it weren't for chess, I might not be here.
cutting knives pie
I would give you my soul in a blackberry pie; and a knife to cut it with.
missing may want
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.
disease said ifs
Repressively, Lymond himself answered. “I dislike being discussed as if I were a disease. Nobody ‘got’ me,” he said.