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A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce, #3) QUOTES

A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce, #3) QUOTES

1 " I have no fear of the dead. Indeed in my own limited experience I have found them to produce in me a feeling that is quite the opposite of fear. A dead body is much more fascinating than a live one and I have learned that most corpses tell better stories. I’d had the good fortune of seeing several of them in my time. "

― Alan Bradley , A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce, #3)

2 " But when oxidation nibbles more slowly - more delicately, like a tortoise - at the world around us, without a flame, we call it rust and we sometimes scarcely notice as it goes about its business consuming everything from hairpins to whole civilizations. "

― Alan Bradley , A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce, #3)

3 " They seem nice, though, your sisters, really,' Porcelain remarked.
'Ha!' I said. 'Shows what little you know! I hate them!'
'Hate them? I should have thought you'd love them.'
'Of course I love them,' I said.... 'That's why I'm so good at hating them. "

― Alan Bradley , A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce, #3)

4 " …because I was only eleven years old, I was wrapped in the best cloak of invisibility in the world. "

― Alan Bradley , A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce, #3)

5 " How very kind of her, ' I said. 'I must remember to send her a card.'

I'd send her a card alright. It would be the Ace of Spades, and I'd mail it anonymously from somewhere other than Bishop's Lacey. "

― Alan Bradley , A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce, #3)

6 " A dead body is much more fascinating than a live one, and I have learned that most corpses tell better stories. "

― Alan Bradley , A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce, #3)

7 " I remembered that Johnson had declared portrait painting to be an improper employment for a woman. “Public practice of any art and staring in men’s faces is very indelicate in a female,” he had said.

Well I’d seen Dr. Johnson’s face in the book’s frontispiece and I couldn’t imagine anyone male or female wanting to stare into it for any length of time —the man was an absolute toad. "

― Alan Bradley , A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce, #3)

8 " Sorry, old girl," I said to [my bicycle] Gladys in the gray dishwater light of early morning, "but I have to leave you at home."

I could see that she was disappointed, even though she managed to put on a brave face.

"I need you to stay here as a decoy," I whispered. "When they see you leaning against the greenhouse, they'll think I'm still in bed."

Gladys brightened considerably at the thought of a conspiracy. [...]

At the corner of the garden, I turned, and mouthed the words, "Don't do anything I wouldn't do," and Gladys signaled that she wouldn't.

I was off like a shot. "

― Alan Bradley , A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce, #3)

9 " Compared with my life Cinderella was a spoiled brat. "

― Alan Bradley , A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce, #3)

10 " Are you provoking your sister again, Flavia," Father asked, looking up from his journal, but leaving a forefinger on the page to mark his place.
"I was trying to discuss current events," I said. "But she doesn't seem much interested."
"Ah," Father said, and went back to reading about plate flaws in the 1840 tuppenny blue. "

― Alan Bradley , A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce, #3)

11 " It’s not polite to ask ” he said with a slight smile. “One must never ask a policeman his secrets.”

“Why not ”

“For the same reason I don’t ask you yours.”

How I adored this man! Here we were the two of us engaged in a mental game of chess in which both of us knew that one of us was cheating.

At the risk of repetition, how I adored this man! "

― Alan Bradley , A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce, #3)

12 " I remembered Father remarking once that if rudeness was not attributable to ignorance it could be taken as a sure sign that one was speaking to a member of the aristocracy. "

― Alan Bradley , A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce, #3)

13 " It was quite wrong of me Had I heard what I thought I’d heard or were my ears playing hob with me It was more likely that the sun and the moon should suddenly dance a jolly jig in the heavens than that one of my sisters should apologize. It was simply unheard of. "

― Alan Bradley , A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce, #3)

14 " It always surprises me after a family row to find that the world outdoors has remained the same. While the passions and feelings that accumulate like noxious gases inside a house seem to condense and cling to the walls and ceilings like old smoke the out-of-doors is different. The landscape seems incapable of accumulating human radiation. Perhaps the wind blows anger away. "

― Alan Bradley , A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce, #3)

15 " I had to make water ” I said. It was the classic female excuse and no male in recorded history had ever questioned it.
“I see ” the Inspector said and left it at that.
Later I would have a quick piddle behind the caravan for insurance purposes. No one would be any the wiser. "

― Alan Bradley , A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce, #3)

16 " Oh, there you are, you odious little prawn... "

― Alan Bradley , A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce, #3)

17 " I waved my hand like a frantic dust mop fingers spread ludicrously wide apart as if to say “What jolly fun ” What I wanted to do actually was to leap to my feet strike a pose and burst into one of those “Yo-ho for the open road ” songs they always play in the cinema musicals but I stifled the urge and settled for a ghastly grin and an extra twiddle of the fingers. "

― Alan Bradley , A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce, #3)

18 " I'll ring for Mrs. Mullet," Feely said, reaching for a velvet pull that hung near the mantelpiece, and which probably hadn't been used since George the Third was foaming at the mouth. "

― Alan Bradley , A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce, #3)

19 " Oxidation, I never tire of reminding myself, is what happens when oxygen attacks. "

― Alan Bradley , A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce, #3)

20 " Whenever I'm with other people, part of me shrinks a little. Only when I am alone can I fully enjoy my own company. "

― Alan Bradley , A Red Herring Without Mustard (Flavia de Luce, #3)