“No, no,' said Hildy, 'I dig up ancient things buried in the earth. Things that belonged to people who lived hundreds of years ago. As she said this, she began to feel uncomfortable. She had forgotten about the brooch.'Do you really?' said the King. 'We used to call that grave-robbing.”

—  Tom Holt, book Who's Afraid of Beowulf?

Who's Afraid of Beowulf? (1988)

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "No, no,' said Hildy, 'I dig up ancient things buried in the earth. Things that belonged to people who lived hundreds of…" by Tom Holt?
Tom Holt photo
Tom Holt40
British writer 1961

Related quotes

T. H. White photo

“When she (Maria) had come abreast of the little island of Mistress Masham's Repose, she began to feel piratical. Swouns and Slids, she said to herself, but you could slap her vitals if she did not careen there, and perhaps dig up some buried treasure while about it.”

T. H. White book Mistress Masham's Repose

Mistress Masham's Repose (1946)

“How about,” she said, “that you do the logical thing because it’s the logical thing to do?”

Dan Simmons book Hyperion

Source: Hyperion (1989), Chapter 5 (p. 315)

Isa Genzken photo

“She [Isa's mother] called up Lufthansa and said, 'I have this daughter, you see, and she needs airplane windows,' she said. That's how she did it.”

Isa Genzken (1948) German sculptor

Isa Genzken's mother, who was in her 90s, helped her in obtaining a section of jetliner window panels for an artwork Isa wanted to make: a series of cut-out airplane windows
after 2010, No, It Isn't Supposed to Be Easy' (2013)

John Banville photo

“My books must be an absolute nightmare to translate. I wouldn't do it. I had a couple of them in Japanese some years ago and my wife met a Japanese woman who said that she had read the books. And she asked her what the translations were like. This woman said they were the worst translation she had ever read in her life. She said she didn't recognise the books when she finally read them in English.”

John Banville (1945) Irish writer

John Banville: Using words to paint pictures of "magical" Prague (2006)

“I'm an archaeologist,' said Hildy. 'I dig up the past.'
The King raised an eyebrow. 'You mean you refresh old quarrels and keep alive old grievances? Surely not.”

Tom Holt book Who's Afraid of Beowulf?

Who's Afraid of Beowulf? (1988)

“The thing that nobody really said about Rebecca Adlington is that she looks pretty weird. She looks like someone who's looking at themselves in the back of a spoon.”

Frankie Boyle (1972) Scottish comedian

Mock the Week

E.M. Forster photo

“It is better to have a home of one’s own than to always be a typist. Hilda did not talk quite as she should, and her husband had not scrupled to correct her. She had never forgotten – it was such a small thing, yet she could not forget it – she had never forgotten that night on their honeymoon when she had said something ungrammatical about the relative position of their limbs.”

E.M. Forster (1879–1970) English novelist

The Obelisk
The Life to Come and other stories (1972)

Brian Andreas photo

“I buried a nickel under the porch when I was 8, she said, but one day my grandma died & they sold the house & I never got to go back for it.
A nickel used to mean something, I said.
She nodded. It still does, she said & then she started to cry.”

Brian Andreas (1956) American artist

Source: Story People: Selected Stories & Drawings of Brian Andreas

“On the bus going home I heard a most fascinating conversation between an old man and woman. "What a thing, though," the old woman said. "You'd hardly credit it." "She's always made a fuss of the whole family, but never me," the old man said. "Does she have a fire when the young people go to see her?" "Fire?" "She won't get people seeing her without warmth." "I know why she's doing it. Don't think I don't," the old man said. "My sister she said to me, 'I wish I had your easy life.' Now that upset me. I was upset by the way she phrased herself. 'Don't talk to me like that,' I said. 'I've only got to get on the phone and ring a certain number,' I said, 'to have you stopped.'" "Yes," the old woman said, "And you can, can't you?" "Were they always the same?" she said. "When you was a child? Can you throw yourself back? How was they years ago?" "The same," the old man said. "Wicked, isn't it?"”

Joe Orton (1933–1967) English playwright and author

the old woman said. "Take care, now" she said, as the old man left her. He didn't say a word but got off the bus looking disgruntled.
Wednesday 18 January 1967 (p. 66)
The Orton Diaries (1986)

Holly Black photo

“The moment she was cursed, I lost her. Once it wears off- soon- she will be embarrassed to remember things that she said, things she did, things like this. No matter how solid she feels in my arms, she is made of smoke.”

Holly Black book Red Glove

Source: Red Glove

Related topics