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Ruth Downie QUOTES

Ruth Downie QUOTES

1 " Back from where? you're not going out again and leaving me here are you?? Holy Hercules I sound like somebody's wife "

― Ruth Downie , Terra Incognita (Gaius Petreius Ruso, #2)

2 " But, when she was alone, someone rapped on the door and she found herself on her feet, knife in hand, before she had time to reason with her fear. "

― Ruth Downie , Semper Fidelis (Gaius Petreius Ruso, #5)

3 " [regarding the sacrifice] It was all very professionally done, even to a man whose religion consisted mostly of half formed and unanswered questions, it was strangely reassuring. "

― Ruth Downie , Semper Fidelis (Gaius Petreius Ruso, #5)

4 " Quid nomen tibi est? She was not about to offer her name up to a stranger. It was almost the only thing she possessed that nobody had stolen. "

― Ruth Downie , Medicus (Gaius Petreius Ruso, #1)

5 " One of the many difficult things about women was that they tended to pick the most unsuitable times to tell you something they considered to be important, and then became irrationally upset when you failed to remember it. "

― Ruth Downie , Terra Incognita (Gaius Petreius Ruso, #2)

6 " Three years with Claudia had taught Ruso that when a woman said something did not matter and refused to tell you what it was, it usually mattered a great deal—to her, if not to you. Frequently her way of punishing you for not knowing what it was in the first place was to refuse to tell you until you gave up asking. This was her cue to accuse you of not caring about her, otherwise you would have known what she wanted you to know without having to be told. Finally, if you were lucky, she would explain the latest way in which you had failed her expectations. If you were not lucky, she would explain... "

― Ruth Downie , Terra Incognita (Gaius Petreius Ruso, #2)

7 " There's no good in moping girl, there's work to be done... Have you forgotten, nobody likes a person who feels sorry for herself. "

― Ruth Downie , Semper Fidelis (Gaius Petreius Ruso, #5)

8 " Sparrows and pigeons and a blackbird were celebrating the morning in the courtyard. "

― Ruth Downie , Semper Fidelis (Gaius Petreius Ruso, #5)

9 " I seem to remember sitting on a golden bench, and she started chattering about the sunset, or something. She seemed quite happy so I let her get on with it. Then she got hold of my hand and asked me what I was thinking about. So I said, "The treatment of anal fistulae". "

― Ruth Downie , Terra Incognita (Gaius Petreius Ruso, #2)

10 " But how can an ordinary girl not know this? Had Varana's mother not bothered to teach her anything at all or just shouted complaints from a distance while her children fought and argued amongst themselves like wolf cubs? "

― Ruth Downie , Semper Fidelis (Gaius Petreius Ruso, #5)

11 " Talking with this girl is like trying to catch fleas, you never know which way she was going to jump. "

― Ruth Downie , Semper Fidelis (Gaius Petreius Ruso, #5)

12 " ...a little knowledge would unlock the gates to vast and unsuspected gates of ignorance. "

― Ruth Downie , Medicus (Gaius Petreius Ruso, #1)

13 " It was a mystery why the army bothered with a signal communication system when its men were so good at gossip. "

― Ruth Downie , Medicus (Gaius Petreius Ruso, #1)

14 " Britannia's big enough to count, but remote enough not to matter. "

― Ruth Downie , Medicus (Gaius Petreius Ruso, #1)

15 " And leave me alone when I tell ya to. I will have things to do that are private. I cannot always have you trailing around with me like a strand of goose grass. "

― Ruth Downie , Semper Fidelis (Gaius Petreius Ruso, #5)

16 " What color is time? Where do the thoughts of the dead go? How is it diseases spread but miracles don't? Have you ever thought of that? "

― Ruth Downie , Terra Incognita (Gaius Petreius Ruso, #2)

17 " But what if---
Most of what if never happens. "

― Ruth Downie , Persona Non Grata (Gaius Petreius Ruso, #3)

18 " There were many things a man might think he should be told when a woman agreed to marry him. She had choose not to mention several of them "

― Ruth Downie , Caveat Emptor (Gaius Petreius Ruso, #4)

19 " Women are not always what we seem to be. What our reputations would tell you. Nor do we only exist in reference to our fathers, husbands, and sons. "

― Ruth Downie , A Year of Ravens: A Novel of Boudica's Rebellion

20 " The Empress Sabina had long ago formed her own theory about the nonsense in travel books. No traveler, having gone to the expense and trouble of venturing where most civilized people were too sensible to go, was going to come home and admit that it had been a waste of time. Instead, he had to pronounce his destination to be full of strange wonders, like the elk with no knees that could be caught by sabotaging the tree against which it leaned when it slept (Julius Caesar) or the men from India who could wrap themselves in their own ears (reported by the elder Pliny, who seemed to have written down everything he was ever told), or the blue-skinned Britons (Julius Caesar again).
Strangely, no traveler had ever brought one of these creatures home for inspection. Doubtless they were impossible to capture, or died on the journey, or the blue came off in the wash. "

― Ruth Downie , Semper Fidelis (Gaius Petreius Ruso, #5)