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Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2) QUOTES

Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2) QUOTES

1 " Time and trouble will tame an advanced young woman, but an advanced old woman is uncontrollable by any earthly force. "

― Dorothy L. Sayers , Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2)

2 " The departure of the church-going element had induced a more humanitarian atmosphere. "

― Dorothy L. Sayers , Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2)

3 " Lord Peter Wimsey: Facts, Bunter, must have facts. When I was a small boy, I always hated facts. Thought they were nasty, hard things, all nobs.
Mervyn Bunter: Yes, my lord. My old mother always used to say...
Lord Peter Wimsey: Your mother, Bunter? Oh, I never knew you had one. I always thought you just sort of came along already-made, so it were. Oh, excuse me. How infernally rude of me. Beg pardon, I'm sure.
Mervyn Bunter: That's all right, my lord.
Lord Peter Wimsey: Thank you.
Mervyn Bunter: Yes indeed, I was one of seven.
Lord Peter Wimsey: That is pure invention, Bunter, I know better. You are unique. But you were going to tell me about your mater.
Mervyn Bunter: Oh yes, my lord. My old mother always used to say that facts are like cows. If you stare them in the face hard enough, and they generally run away.
Lord Peter Wimsey: By Jove, that's courageous, Bunter. What a splendid person she must be.
Mervyn Bunter: I think so, my lord. "

― Dorothy L. Sayers , Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2)

4 " But to Lord Peter the world presented itself as an entertaining labyrinth of side-issues "

― Dorothy L. Sayers , Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2)

5 " And you, Mary, if you must run off to London, why do it in that unfinished manner, so that I was left without the car, and couldn't catch anything until the midnight train at Northallerton? It's so much better to do things neatly and properly, even stupid things. "

― Dorothy L. Sayers , Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2)

6 " Fou!” “Who?” “I didn’t say ‘who’; I said ‘fou,’ ” “I know you did. I said who?” “Who?” “Who’s fou?” “Oh, is. By Jove, ‘suis’! ‘Je suis fou. "

― Dorothy L. Sayers , Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2)

7 " I am abso-bally-lutely positive "

― Dorothy L. Sayers , Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2)

8 " Boil my brains!” said Lord Peter. “Boil ’em and mash ’em and serve ’em up with butter as a dish of turnips, for it’s damn well all they’re fit for! Look at me! "

― Dorothy L. Sayers , Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2)

9 " I didn't mind thinking you were a murderer," said Lady Mary spitefully, "but I do mind you being such an ass. "

― Dorothy L. Sayers , Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2)

10 " I think my mother's talents deserve a little acknowledgement. I said so to her, as a matter of fact, and she replied in these memorable words: "My dear child, you can give it a long name if you like, but I'm an old-fashioned woman and I call it mother-wit, and it's so rare for a man to have it that if he does you write a book about him and call him Sherlock Holmes. "

― Dorothy L. Sayers , Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2)

11 " My dear child, you can give it a long name if you like, but I'm an old-fashioned woman and I call it mother-wit, and it's so rare for a man to have it that if he does you write a book about him and call him Sherlock Holmes. "

― Dorothy L. Sayers , Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2)

12 " Wimsey stooped for an empty sardine-tin which lay, horribly battered, at his feet, and slung it idly into the quag. It struck the surface with a noise like a wet kiss, and vanished instantly. With that instinct which prompts one, when depressed, to wallow in every circumstance of gloom, Peter leaned sadly against the hurdles and abandoned himself to a variety of shallow considerations upon (1) The vanity of human wishes; (2) Mutability; (3) First love; (4) The decay of idealism; (5) The aftermath of the Great war; (6) Birth-control; and (7) The fallacy of free-will. "

― Dorothy L. Sayers , Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2)

13 " It's not the innocent young things that need gentle handling--it's the ones that have been frightened and hurt. "

― Dorothy L. Sayers , Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2)

14 " I say, I don’t think the human frame is very thoughtfully constructed for this sleuthhound business. If one could go on all fours, or had eyes in ones knees, it would be a lot more practical’… ‘What luck! Here’s a deep, damp ditch on the other side, which I shall now proceed to fall into.’ A slithering crash proclaimed that he had carried out his intention. "

― Dorothy L. Sayers , Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2)

15 " A man was taken to the Zoo and shown the giraffe. After gazing at it a little in silence: 'I don't believe it,' he said. "

― Dorothy L. Sayers , Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2)

16 " ...Perhaps you didn't say much about him, mother, but Gerald said lots - dreadful things!'
'Yes,' said the Duchess, 'he said what he thought. The present generation does, you know. To the uninitiated, I admit, dear, it does sound a little rude. "

― Dorothy L. Sayers , Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2)

17 " But the worse you express yourself these days the more profound people think you--though that's nothing new. "

― Dorothy L. Sayers , Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2)

18 " Lord Peter Wimsey stretched himself luxuriously between the sheets provided by the Hotel Meurice. "

― Dorothy L. Sayers , Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2)

19 " I s'pose you couldn't get 'em to bring it in 'Death by the Visitation of God,' could you, Biggs?'' suggested Lord Peter. ''Sort of judgment for wantin' to marry into our family, what? "

― Dorothy L. Sayers , Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2)

20 " She suffered much from the adjacent presence of her daughter-in-law, whose misfortune it was to become disagreeable when she was unhappy--perhaps the heaviest curse that can be laid on man, who is born to sorrow. "

― Dorothy L. Sayers , Clouds of Witness (Lord Peter Wimsey, #2)