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And habits are hell's own substitute for good intentions. Habits are the ruin of ambition, of initiative , of imagination. They're the curse of marriage and the after-bane of death.

Dorothy Dunnett

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Dorothy Dunnett
Age: 78 †
Born: 1923
Born: January 1
Died: 2001
Died: November 9
Novelist
Writer
Death
Ruins
Good
Curse
Bane
Intention
Intentions
Ambition
Substitute
Habit
Ruin
Marriage
Substitutes
Hell
Initiative
Imagination
Habits

More quotes by Dorothy Dunnett

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It was one of the occasions when Lymond asleep wrecked the peace of mind of more people than Lymond awake.
Dorothy Dunnett
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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.
Dorothy Dunnett
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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.
Dorothy Dunnett
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Look up . . . and see them. The teaching stars, beyond worship and commonplace tongues.
Dorothy Dunnett
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Music, the knife without a hilt.
Dorothy Dunnett
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Today,’ said Lymond, ‘if you must know, I don’t like living at all. But that’s just immaturity boggling at the sad face of failure. Tomorrow I’ll be bright as a bedbug again.
Dorothy Dunnett
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And at thirty-eight a brilliant exponent of arms and a knight of the great fighting and religious Order of St John, the Chevalier de Villegagnon had absolutely no use for common sense himself, but respected it in the laity.
Dorothy Dunnett
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A man of over thirty might be held to be at the height of his powers, but not necessarily of his wisdom.
Dorothy Dunnett
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Oh, well. Everyone else has suave, cosmopolitan sheep: why not us? The Millers at Hepple have a ewe that’s been to Kelso three times, and they’ve never been farther than Ford in their lives.” Kate peered absently into the farm pond, and clucked again. “Thoughtless creatures. They’ve forgotten the fish.
Dorothy Dunnett
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My son took many years to learn the simple truth. You cannot love any one person adequately until you have made friends with the rest of the human race also. Adult love demands qualities which cannot be learned living in a vacuum of resentment.
Dorothy Dunnett
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Depose him,’ said Will Scott, astonished. ‘The Grand Master’s holy office terminates with his life.’ ‘And can nobody think of an answer to that?’ said Will Scott.
Dorothy Dunnett
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It seems to me,’ said Philippa prosaically, ‘that on the whole we run more risks with Mr Crawford’s protection than without it.
Dorothy Dunnett
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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.
Dorothy Dunnett
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I wish to God,” said Gideon with mild exasperation, “that you’d talk—just once—in prose like other people.
Dorothy Dunnett
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Man is a being of varied, manifold and inconstant nature. And woman, by God, is a match for him.
Dorothy Dunnett
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Repressively, Lymond himself answered. “I dislike being discussed as if I were a disease. Nobody ‘got’ me,” he said.
Dorothy Dunnett
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He regards boredom, I observe, as the One and Mighty Enemy of his soul. And will succeed in conquering it, I am sure—if he survives the experience.
Dorothy Dunnett
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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.
Dorothy Dunnett
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If I can’t be personal, I don’t want to argue,” said his hostess categorically. “I may be missing your points, but you’re much too busy dodging mine.
Dorothy Dunnett
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What’s wrong? Has Francis been rude? Then you must try to overlook it. I know you wouldn’t think so, but he is thoroughly upset by Tom Erskine’s death and when Francis is troubled he doesn’t show it, he just goes and makes life wretched for somebody.
Dorothy Dunnett