Clouds of Witness Quotes

“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

“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

“But to Lord Peter the world presented itself as an entertaining labyrinth of side-issues”
― Dorothy L. Sayers, Clouds of Witness

“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: 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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“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

“...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

“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 stretched himself luxuriously between the sheets provided by the Hotel Meurice.”
― Dorothy L. Sayers, Clouds of Witness

“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

“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

“Ah, well, as the old pagan said of the Gospels, after all, it was a long time ago, and we'll hope it wasn't true.”
― Dorothy L. Sayers, Clouds of Witness

“The departure of the church-going element had induced a more humanitarian atmosphere.”
― Dorothy L. Sayers, Clouds of Witness

“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

“honestly--then dishonestly.”
― Dorothy L. Sayers, Clouds of Witness

“Joyce has freed us from the superstition of syntax," agreed the curly man.”
― Dorothy L. Sayers, Clouds of Witness

“Did you want to be a missionary in your youth? I did. I think most kids do some time or another, which is odd, seein´ how unsatisfactory most of us turn out.”
― Dorothy L. Sayers, Clouds of Witness

“There are many difficulties inherent in a teleological view of creation,” said Parker placidly.”
― Dorothy L. Sayers, Clouds of Witness

“The Duchess of Denver was pouring out coffee. This was one of her uncomfortable habits. Persons arriving late for breakfast were thereby made painfully aware of their sloth. She was a long-necked, long-backed woman, who disciplined her hair and her children. She”
― Dorothy L. Sayers, Clouds of Witness

“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 one's knees, it would be a lot more practical.”
― Dorothy L. Sayers, Clouds of Witness

“Sir Wigmore Wrinching laid great stress upon this witness’s assertion that deceased had been in excellent health and spirits when retiring to bed on the Wednesday evening... “He seemed particularly cheerio, you know,” said the Hon. Freddy.
“Particularly what?” inquired the Lord High Steward.
“Cheerio, my lord,” said Sir Wigmore, with a deprecatory bow.
“I do not know whether that is a dictionary word,” said his lordship, entering it upon his notes with meticulous exactness, “but I take it to be synonymous with cheerful.”
The Hon. Freddy, appealed to, said he thought he meant more than cheerful, more merry and bright, you know.
“May we take it that he was in exceptionally lively spirits?” suggested Counsel.
“Take it in any spirit you like,” muttered the witness…”
― Dorothy L. Sayers, Clouds of Witness

“I am abso-bally-lutely positive”
― Dorothy L. Sayers, Clouds of Witness

“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

“A wide, passionate mouth — a shape so wonderful that even in that strenuous moment sixteen generations of feudal privilege stirred in Lord Peter's blood.”
― Dorothy L. Sayers, Clouds of Witness

“In middle life she still made a point of ignoring those newspaper paragraphs which bore such headlines as: “ASSAULT UPON A SCHOOLTEACHER AT CRICKLEWOOD”; “DEATH IN A PINT OF STOUT”; “£75 FOR A KISS”; or “She called him HUBBYKINS.”
― Dorothy L. Sayers, Clouds of Witness