Lindsey Davis Quotes (67 quotes) | Quotes of famous people

Nemesis
Context: Petronius once told me that pathological murderers tend to start their killing sprees while they are children. Find a man who takes prostitutes off the streets as a personal vocation, and he'll probably have a set of neat jars with his childhood collection of dissected rats.

“I would rather see Rome ruled by a man who once had to ask his accountant tricky questions before his steward could pay the butcher’s bill than by some mad limb like Nero, who was brought up believing himself the son and the grandson of gods, and who thought wearing the purple gave him free rein to indulge his personal vanities, execute real talent, bankrupt the Treasury, burn half of Rome – and bore the living daylights out of paying customers in theatres!”

Lindsey Davis book Shadows in Bronze

Shadows in Bronze

“Petronius once told me that pathological murderers tend to start their killing sprees while they are children. Find a man who takes prostitutes off the streets as a personal vocation, and he'll probably have a set of neat jars with his childhood collection of dissected rats.”

Lindsey Davis book Nemesis

Nemesis (2010)

Lindsey Davis: Trending quotes

“This was no more cynical than most lying lozenge-pushers, but when he thought it mattered, Rhoemetalces had been honest. We cannot have that. Rome is a complex, sophisticated society. Truth is distrusted as much as Greek philosophy.”

Lindsey Davis book The Accusers

The Accusers

“Getting involved with politicians is complete stupidity.”

Lindsey Davis book Venus in Copper

Venus in Copper
Context: “I had been right in the first place. Getting involved with politicians is complete stupidity.”

“Smartness always helps in gaining access to the houses of the wealthy. Anyone with a clean face is acceptable to thugs.”

Lindsey Davis book Time to Depart

Time to Depart

Lindsey Davis Quotes

“Instead of making a genuine point, it's now good enough to repeat any ribald story without a thought for whether it's even true.”

Lindsey Davis book Last Act in Palmyra

Last Act in Palmyra
Context: The new "humour", if you can call it that, is pure malicious gossip. Instead of making a genuine point, it's now good enough to repeat any ribald story without a thought for whether it's even true.

“Cherish the past for what it was, an ideal, a signal that human happiness might be a possibility”

Lindsey Davis book Master and God

Master and God
Context: He was dead. No point speculating. Cherish the past for what it was, an ideal, a signal that human happiness might be a possibility. Raise your standards. Make a decent life, Lucilla. Life is all there is. If it's only once, it must be good... He had been right. If perfection only happened once, that was better than never. Now nothing for her would ever again entail complete despair. So thank you, Gaius Vinius Clodianus, son of Marcus, thank you for your good deed, a deed that brightened somebody's dark world.

“Most cynics are witty and all clowns are cynical. Meet us on the road, and who could tell the difference?”

Lindsey Davis book Last Act in Palmyra

Last Act in Palmyra
Context: I asked why Grumio had had to turn to lesser things.'No call. In my father or grandfather's day all I would have needed in life were my cloak and shoes, my flask and strigil, a cup and knife to take to dinner, and a small wallet for my earnings. Everyone who could find the wherewithal would eagerly ask a wandering jokesmith in.'
'Sounds just like being a vagrant philosopher!'
'A cynic,' he agreed readily. 'Exactly. Most cynics are witty and all clowns are cynical. Meet us on the road, and who could tell the difference?’
'Me, I hope! I'm a good Roman. I'd take a five-mile detour to avoid a philosopher.'</p

“There are fortunes to be made out of bristle for a man with deft hands.”

Lindsey Davis book The Iron Hand of Mars

The Iron Hand of Mars
Context: Stick with it, Xanthus. There are fortunes to be made out of bristle for a man with deft hands.

“Sometimes information you barely noticed consciously comes back to you of its own accord.”

Lindsey Davis book The Third Nero

The Third Nero

“Architectural drawings may look beautiful and be admired by critics but to be good, they have to work in daily use.”

Lindsey Davis book A Body in the Bath House

A Body in the Bath House

“Their work was undercover—yet their existence unconcealed. That is how fear works.”

Lindsey Davis book The Third Nero

The Third Nero
Context: “Their work was undercover—yet their existence unconcealed. That is how fear works.”

“For him the best adornment of rank was acute native intelligence.”

Lindsey Davis book Time to Depart

Time to Depart
Context: He wore the purple; it was his entitlement. With it he had neither wreath nor jewels. For him the best adornment of rank was acute native intelligence.

“Not all the fine civic building programmes in the world would ever displace the raw forces that drive most of humankind.”

Lindsey Davis book Time to Depart

Time to Depart
Context: Not all the fine civic building programmes in the world would ever displace the raw forces that drive most of humankind. This was the true city: greed, corruption and violence.

“b>Emperors must make their own rules.

Lindsey Davis book The Silver Pigs

The Silver Pigs

“Communicating wit is a lonely art. It demands an independent soul.”

Lindsey Davis book Last Act in Palmyra

Last Act in Palmyra

“This was a solitary walk where the sun and the scents of wild flowers would act on a tortured mind like a soothing drug.”

Lindsey Davis book See Delphi and Die

See Delphi and Die

“Justice never paid a poor man's bills.”

Lindsey Davis book Venus in Copper

Venus in Copper