Flavia Quotes

I remembered that Johnson had declared portrait painting to be an improper employment for a woman. "Public practice of any art and staring in men's faces is very indelicate in a female," he had said.
Well I'd seen Dr. Johnson's face in the book's frontispiece and I couldn't imagine anyone male or female wanting to stare into it for any length of time - the man was an absolute toad. ~ Alan Bradley

In the world we live in, priests and bartenders have a lot in common. ~ Flavia Biondi

The wards were to my right. I stepped into the hall and walked confidently forward, yet fully expecting Matron to come bearing down upon me at any moment, like a pirate ship under full sail.
I must say, though, that I was not afraid. I would deal with her.
The new, stony Flavia de Luce would turn her away: send her scurrying with her tail between her legs.
The very idea delighted me. ~ Alan Bradley

Someday, beyond the clouds and all the world's wrongs, there will be love, compassion and justice, and we shall all understand. ~ Flavia Weedn

Un(der)known Writers: Flavia Dzodan By The New Inquiry Few words define The Netherlands better than "imperialist". In a time of white appropriations of post colonial theory, few pause to realize that no post colonial analysis is possible while we live in a country where the "post" lays within a distant future (i.e. The Netherlands still holds colonial territories in the Caribbean). ~ Anonymous

Blessed are those who see through the eyes of a child ~ Flavia

Sanctified cyanide
Super-quick arsenic
Higgledy-piggledy
Into the Soup.
Put out the mourning lamps
Call for coffin clamps
Teach them to trifle with
Flavia de Luce! ~ Alan Bradley

Twenty days ago my physio asked me if I was if I never think that I can win a Grand Slam or be in final of Grand Slam, and I said no. ~ Flavia Pennetta

As Daffy once said, the best place to hide a glum countenance is onstage at the opera. ~ Alan Bradley

And this must be our little Flavia!'
On paper the man was already dead. ~ Alan Bradley

It's something I really love to do. I mean, I don't see myself without tennis. ~ Flavia Pennetta

I was me, I was Flavia. And I loved myself, even if no one else did. ~ Alan Bradley

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

I have no fear of the dead. Indeed in my own limited experience I have found them to produce in me a feeling that is quite the opposite of fear. A dead body is much more fascinating than a live one and I have learned that most corpses tell better stories. I'd had the good fortune of seeing several of them in my time. ~ Alan Bradley

If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again. ~ Flavia Weedn

Some people move our souls to dance. ~ Flavia Weedn

If I see love everywhere now, it's because you taught me to. ~ Flavia Biondi

Being Flavia de Luce was like being a sublimate: like the black crystal residue that is left on the cold glass of a test tube by the violet fumes of iodine. ~ Alan Bradley

Beautiful memories tell our story, and wrap themselves in ribbons of the heart. ~ Flavia Cacace

You are unreliable, Flavia,' he said. 'Utterly unreliable.'
Of course I was! It was one of the things I loved most about myself. ~ Alan Bradley

Opal is dead, and I don't see how a healer can change that! It's not something to joke about."
Joke?" Then Owen hit his forehead and cried, "That's right, you haven't heard!"
Heard what?" asked Adrien, who felt an insane glimmer of hope return to his heart.
Death is on strike! She hasn't done that for two centuries, and it's very annoying. Your friend is alive."
Very annoying?" repeated Amber. "I don't see what's so annoying about a miracle! What is Death on strike for?"
Everyone knows that Death lives in Fairytale-in an inaccessible area, obviously. And just a few hours ago, she decided to stop working. So, for now, no one can die. ~ Flavia Bujor

I waved my hand like a frantic dust mop fingers spread ludicrously wide apart as if to say "What jolly fun " What I wanted to do actually was to leap to my feet strike a pose and burst into one of those "Yo-ho for the open road " songs they always play in the cinema musicals but I stifled the urge and settled for a ghastly grin and an extra twiddle of the fingers. ~ Alan Bradley

The things I never said are waiting somewhere-like the things I wanted to do and never did. ~ Flavia Bujor

Cut not the wings of your dreams, for they are the heartbeat and the freedom of your soul. ~ Flavia

It always surprises me after a family row to find that the world outdoors has remained the same. While the passions and feelings that accumulate like noxious gases inside a house seem to condense and cling to the walls and ceilings like old smoke the out-of-doors is different. The landscape seems incapable of accumulating human radiation. Perhaps the wind blows anger away. ~ Alan Bradley

I had to make water " I said. It was the classic female excuse and no male in recorded history had ever questioned it.
"I see " the Inspector said and left it at that.
Later I would have a quick piddle behind the caravan for insurance purposes. No one would be any the wiser. ~ Alan Bradley

Oh, there you are, you odious little prawn... ~ Alan Bradley

Compared with my life Cinderella was a spoiled brat. ~ Alan Bradley

I remembered Father remarking once that if rudeness was not attributable to ignorance it could be taken as a sure sign that one was speaking to a member of the aristocracy. ~ Alan Bradley

Nature does abhor a vacuum, but she equally abhors pressure. ~ Alan Bradley

I'll ring for Mrs. Mullet, Feely said, reaching for a velvet pull that hung near the mantelpiece, and which probably hadn't been used since George the Third was foaming at the mouth. ~ Alan Bradley

If the world kept a journal, many of the entries would be conversations concerning the advancement of scientific knowledge and its importance to humanity. I offer the following conversation as an added entry: "And what is as important as knowledge?" asked the mind. "Caring," answered the heart. ~ Flavia Weedn

Being alone," I snapped, without meaning to be intentionally rude. I was simply being truthful. "Being alone," she said, nodding. I could see that she was not put off by my bristling reply. "There's a lot to be said for being alone. But you and I know, don't we, Flavia, that being alone and being lonely are not at all the same thing?" I brightened a bit. Here was someone who seemed at least to have thought through some of the same things I had. ~ Alan Bradley