j-august

[j-august]

Nicholas respected his loyalty, which had to struggle all the time against his better judgement.

Dorothy Dunnett, Gemini

[j-august]

"But isn't this true of most antagonists? We dislike our own flaws in others. We resent those whose admiration we want. Only sometimes, if we are blessed, we may reverse the process."

Dorothy Dunnett, Gemini

[j-august]

"God at his eye-window knows," said Kilmirren."I haven't decided. I like to surprise myself."

Dorothy Dunnett, Gemini

[j-august]

Looking down, scanning all he could see, Nicholas recognised, as he always had, the kind of courage that was greater than other people's, because it was not instinctive.

Dorothy Dunnett, Gemini

[j-august]

It struck him as embarrassing that, having caused havoc over three continents, he should end with a small, winsome Scot as one of his ultimate adversaries. It was true that most of the others were dead.

Dorothy Dunnett, Gemini

[j-august]

Henry trembled. On his way to the door, Nicholas turned. "You will be asked to do nothing demeaning." "Speaking to you is demeaning," Henry said.

Dorothy Dunnett, Gemini

[j-august]

He had met other husbands like this. Men who could sail, but not navigate.

Dorothy Dunnett, Gemini

[j-august]

The first emotion felt by Tom Yare, and most others, upon meeting Nicol de Fleury, was an urge to be friendly. The next, based on experience, was a heady mixture of horror and glee.

Dorothy Dunnett, Gemini

[j-august]

The Patriarch, in one of his tidier manifestations, was expressing modified derision.

Dorothy Dunnett, Caprice and Rondo

[j-august]

"Joy is an uncertain emotion, always indiscreet and often short-lived."

Dorothy Dunnett, Caprice and Rondo

[j-august]

"Some men work for a cause; many achieve as much or more through ambition alone. With you, I thought it was the first one, then the other. Now I think it is neither. I cannot see your purpose in life." "Because there is none," Nicholas said. "You have just defined freedom." "For an adult? I have just defined mediocrity," Buonaccorsi said.

Dorothy Dunnett, Caprice and Rondo

[j-august]

The sense of ancient desolation returned, and he had to concentrate to dispel it.

Dorothy Dunnett, Caprice and Rondo

[j-august]

She said, "A foot-soldier of Satan. But you would use him?" "God would use him," the Patriarch said. "If I am to make one parchment Bible, I need the skins of three hundred sheep." "But you don't consult the sheep," Kathi said. "I don't need to," said the Patriarch patiently. "They do what they're told, and go directly to Paradise."

Dorothy Dunnett, Caprice and Rondo

[j-august]

In the various theatres that made up his life, Julius preferred the occasional exquisite performance to the predictable and diligent routine.

Dorothy Dunnett, Caprice and Rondo

[j-august]

Kathi admired her new husband's character, but sometimes regretted his lack of low cunning.

Dorothy Dunnett, Caprice and Rondo

[j-august]

To say she liked him meant nothing; she liked almost everyone.

Dorothy Dunnett, Caprice and Rondo

[j-august]

Nicholas drunk had always been easier to manage than Nicholas tinkering about with the full unappetising range of his faculties.

Dorothy Dunnett, To Lie with Lions