178 Quotes by Dorothy Dunnett

His chest heaved, and he coughed. "You have coughed before," his mother said. "It is a sign of weakness. Control it.

Not to every young girl is it given to enter the harem of the Sultan of Turkey and return to her homeland a virgin.

Защото ако синът не харесва баща си - както и да е. Това е естествената смяна на поколенията. Но когато един мъж се осмелява да мрази сина си - това е неестествено.

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.

You all know that each title in the Chronicles has a chess theme; that's partly because of the overall design of the Chronicles themselves - the game of chess as an analogue of the game of life.

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.

Facts are the soil from which the story grows. Imagination is a last resort.

Versatility is one of the few human traits which are universally intolerable. You may be good at Greek and good at painting and be popular. You may be good at Greek and good at sport, and be wildly popular. But try all three and you’re a mountebank. Nothing arouses suspicion quicker than genuine, all-round proficiency.

To the men exposed to his rule Lymond never appeared ill: he was never tired; he was never worried, or pained, or disappointed, or passionately angry. If he rested, he did so alone; if he slept, he took good care to sleep apart. “—I sometimes doubt if he’s human,” said Will, speaking his thought aloud. “It’s probably all done with wheels.