Quotes from The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

“One of the marks of a truly great mind, I had discovered, is the ability to feign stupidity on demand.”
― Alan Bradley, quote from The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

“What are we going to do, Dogger?'
It seemed a reasonable question. After all he had been through, surely Dogger knew something of hopeless situations.
'We shall wait upon tomorrow,' he said.
'But--what if tomorrow is worse than today?'
'Then we shall wait upon the day after tomorrow.'
'And so forth?' I asked.
'And so forth,' Dogger said.”
― Alan Bradley, quote from The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

“Feely had the knack of being able to screw one side of her face into a witchlike horror while keeping the other as sweet and demure as any maiden from Tennyson. It was perhaps, the one thing I envied her.”
― Alan Bradley, quote from The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

“If stupidity were theoretical physics, then I would be Albert Einstein.”
― Alan Bradley, quote from The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

“We might as well face it: Death is a bore. It is even harder on the survivors than on the deceased, who at least don’t have to worry about when to sit and when to stand, or when to permit a pale smile and when to glance tragically away.”
― Alan Bradley, quote from The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

“Although it seems shocking to say so, grief is a funny thing. On the one hand, you're numb, yet on the other, something inside is trying desperately to claw its way back to normal: to pull a funny face, to leap out like a jack-in-the-box, to say "Smile, damn you, smile!”
― Alan Bradley, quote from The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

“One of the things I love about myself is my ability to remain open to suggestion.”
― Alan Bradley, quote from The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

“I suddenly realized that there's something about singing hymns with a large group of people that sharpens the senses remarkably. I stored this observation away for later use; it was a jolly good thing to know for anyone practicing the art of detection.”
― Alan Bradley, quote from The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

“Was he being what Daffy called “ironical”? She had once told me that the word meant the use of veiled sarcasm: the dagger under the silk. “The smiler with the knife!” she had hissed in a horrible voice.”
― Alan Bradley, quote from The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

“Foolishness in a grown man, no matter how lighthearted, is disgusting.”
― Alan Bradley, quote from The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

“In the old legends, anyone who willingly took up the Earth upon their shoulders was doomed to carry it forever: a curse, it seemed, with no way out.”
― Alan Bradley, quote from The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

“Kill him." Dr. Kissing repeated my words in a flat, matter-of-fact voice. "Just so. But 'kill,' as you will have observed, like 'spy' and 'stop,' is really just one more of those short but exceedingly troublesome words.”
― Alan Bradley, quote from The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

“…it is a well-known fact that more than two men shut up together in an enclosed space for more than an hour constitute a hazard to society. If unpleasantness is to be avoided, they must be made to go outdoors and work off their animal spirits.”
― Alan Bradley, quote from The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

“I don't care' is the last bit of baggage to be tossed overboard in a losing argument.”
― Alan Bradley, quote from The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

“In ordinary circumstances, I would have responded to such a command by sending up a reply that would have given Undine's mother a perm that would be truly everlasting, but I restrained myself.”
― Alan Bradley, quote from The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

“I'm very sorry about your mother, Flavia. I can't even begin to imagine how you must feel." At least the man had the sense to admit it.”
― Alan Bradley, quote from The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

“To my mind, if Nature had wanted us to have bright red fingertips, She would have caused us to be born with our blood on the outside.”
― Alan Bradley, quote from The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

“the de Luce coat of arms: per bend sinister sable and argent, two lucies haurient counterchanged. The crest, the moon in her detriment, and the motto “Dare Lucem.” “The moon in her detriment” was a moon eclipsed, and the “lucies,” of course, were silver and black luces, or pikes, a double pun on the name de Luce. “Haurient” meant simply that the pikes were standing on their fishy tails.”
― Alan Bradley, quote from The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

“Life’s like that, too,” Aunt Felicity continued. “Too much push, and bang through the bottom one goes. Still, if one doesn’t paddle, one doesn’t get anywhere.”
― Alan Bradley, quote from The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

“the freedom of it all—the sense of having left one’s body, but not one’s mind, behind. Unless you happened to be a bird, the body was of little use up here: You could not run or jump as you did on the ground, but only observe. In a strange way, being an aviator was like being a departed soul: You could look down upon the Earth without actually being present, see all without being seen. It was easy enough to see why God, having called the dry land “Earth” and the gathering together of the waters “the Seas,” saw that it was good.”
― Alan Bradley, quote from The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

“Why don’t they embed the dead in blocks of plate glass and bury them in crypts beneath transparent floors? In that way, the deceased would easily be able to see God for themselves, and He to see them,”
― Alan Bradley, quote from The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

“It was easy enough to see why God, having called the dry land "Earth" and the gathering together of the waters "the Seas," saw that it was good.
I could picture the Old Fellow lifting up the horizon like the lid of a stewing pot and peeking in with one red eye to admire His Creation: to see how it was coming along.
It was good!”
― Alan Bradley, quote from The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

“These (all the poor Remains of State) Adorn the Rich, or praise the Great; Who while on Earth in Fame they live, Are senseless of the Fame they give. Thomas”
― Alan Bradley, quote from The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

“What are we going to do, Dogger?” It seemed a reasonable question. After all he had been through, surely Dogger knew something of hopeless situations. “We shall wait upon tomorrow,” he said. “But—what if tomorrow is worse than today?” “Then we shall wait upon the day after tomorrow.” “And so forth?” I asked. “And so forth,” Dogger said.”
― Alan Bradley, quote from The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches

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Popular quotes

“Each new acquisition emboldened Putin. At the end of 2005, Gazprom hiked the price of natural gas it delivered to Ukraine from a heavily discounted $50 per 1,000 cubic meters to $230, in line with prices charged in the rest of Europe. The increase was transparent retribution for Yushchenko’s flirtation with the West after taking power. Putin”
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“Suppose two men at cards with nothing to wager save their lives. Who has not heard such a tale? A turn of the card. The whole universe for such a player has labored clanking to his moment which will tell if he is to die at that man’s hand or that man at his. What more certain validation of a man’s worth could there be? This enhancement of the game to its ultimate state admits no argument concerning the notion of fate. The selection of one man over another is a preference absolute and irrevocable and it is a dull man indeed who could reckon so profound a decision without agency or significance either one. In such games as have for their stake the annihilation of the defeated the decisions are quite clear. This man holding this particular arrangement of cards in his hand is thereby removed from existence. This is the nature of war, whose stake is at once the game and the authority and the justification. Seen so, war is the truest form of divination. It is the testing of one’s will and the will of another within that larger will which because it binds them is therefore forced to select. War is the ultimate game because war is at last a forcing of the unity of existence. War is god.”
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“But just understand the difference between a man like Reardon and a man like me. He is the old type of unpractical artist; I am the literary man of 1882. He won't make concessions, or rather, he can't make them; he can't supply the market. I--well, you may say that at present, I do nothing; but that's a great mistake, I am learning my business. Literature nowadays is a trade. Putting aside men of genius, who may succeed by mere cosmic force, your successful man of letters is your skilful tradesman. He thinks first and foremost of the markets; when one kind of goods begins to go off slackly, he is ready with something new and appetising. He knows perfectly all the possible sources of income. Whatever he has to sell, he'll get payment for it from all sorts of various quarters; none of your unpractical selling for a lump sum to a middleman who will make six distinct profits.”
― George Gissing, quote from New Grub Street

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BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

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