Quotes by Susanna Clarke

The Emperor Napoleon Buonaparte had been banished to the island of Elba. However His Imperial Majesty had some doubts wheter a quiet island life would suit him - he was, after all, accustomed to governing a large proportion of the known world.

Ah, but sir, said Lascelles, it is precisely by passing judgments upon other peoples work and pointing out their errors that readers can be made to understand your own opinions better. It is the easiest thing in the world to turn a review to ones own ends. One only need mention the book once or twice and for the rest of the article one may develop ones theme just as one chuses. It is, I assure you, what every body else does.

If I were you, Mr Lascelles, said Childermass, softly, I would speak more guardedly. You are in the north now. In John Uskglasss own country. Our towns and cities and abbeys were built by him. Our laws were made by him. He is in our minds and hearts andspeech. Were it summer you would see a carpet of tiny flowers beneath every hedgerow, of a bluish-white colour. We call them Johns Farthings. When the weather is contrary and we have warm weather in winter or it rains in summer the country people say that JohnUskglass is in love again and neglects his business. And when we are sure of something we say it is as safe as a pebble in John Uskglasss pocket.

“Time and I have quarrelled. All hours are midnight now. I had a clock and a watch, but I destroyed them both. I could not bear the way they mocked me.”

“Most of us are naturally inclined to struggle against the restrictions our friends and family impose upon us, but if we are so unfortunate as to lose a loved one, what a difference then! Then the restriction becomes a sacred trust.”