Quotes from work
The Chronicles of Clovis

Renowned for his witty dialogue and macabre humor, Saki skewered the pretensions of the Edwardian age. These short stories showcase his mastery of comic repartee, recounting the escapades of an irreverent socialite.

“The people of Crete unfortunately make more history than they can consume locally.”

Saki The Chronicles of Clovis

"The Jesting of Arlington Stringham"
The Chronicles of Clovis (1911)

“By insisting on having your bottle pointing to the north when the cork is being drawn, and calling the waiter Max, you may induce an impression on your guests which hours of laboured boasting might be powerless to achieve. For this purpose, however, the guests must be chosen as carefully as the wine.”

Saki The Chronicles of Clovis

"The Chaplet"
The Chronicles of Clovis (1911)

“I came here to get freedom from the inane interruptions of the mentally deficient, but it seems I asked too much of fate.”

Saki The Chronicles of Clovis

"The Recessional"
The Chronicles of Clovis (1911)

“Poverty keeps together more homes than it breaks up.”

Saki The Chronicles of Clovis

"Esmé"
The Chronicles of Clovis (1911)

“Sredni Vashtar went forth,
His thoughts were red thoughts and his teeth were white.
His enemies called for peace, but he brought them death.
Sredni Vashtar the Beautiful.”

Saki The Chronicles of Clovis

"Sredni Vashtar"
The Chronicles of Clovis (1911)

“I love Americans, but not when they try to talk French. What a blessing it is that they never try to talk English.”

Saki The Chronicles of Clovis

"Adrian"
The Chronicles of Clovis (1911)

“I think oysters are more beautiful than any religion," [Clovis] resumed presently. "They not only forgive our unkindness to them; they justify it, they incite us to go on being perfectly horrid to them. Once they arrive at the supper-table they seem to enter thoroughly into the spirit of the thing. There's nothing in Christianity or Buddhism that quite matches the sympathetic unselfishness of an oyster.”

Saki The Chronicles of Clovis

"The Match-Maker"
The Chronicles of Clovis (1911)

“Whenever a massacre of Armenians is reported from Asia Minor, every one assumes that it has been carried out "under orders" from somewhere or another; no one seems to think that there are people who might like to kill their neighbours now and then.”

Saki The Chronicles of Clovis

"Filboid Studge, the Story of a Mouse That Helped"
The Chronicles of Clovis (1911)

“Mrs. Troyle paused again, with the self-applauding air of one who has detected an asp lurking in an apple-charlotte.”

Saki The Chronicles of Clovis

"The Secret Sin of Septimus Brope"
The Chronicles of Clovis (1911)

“All decent people live beyond their incomes nowadays, and those who aren't respectable live beyond other people's. A few gifted individuals manage to do both.”

Saki The Chronicles of Clovis

"The Match Maker"
The Chronicles of Clovis (1911)

“You needn't tell me that a man who doesn't love oysters and asparagus and good wines has got a soul, or a stomach either. He's simply got the instinct for being unhappy highly developed.”

Saki The Chronicles of Clovis

"The Match-Maker"
The Chronicles of Clovis (1911)

“His socks compelled one's attention without losing one's respect.”

Saki The Chronicles of Clovis

"Ministers of Grace"
The Chronicles of Clovis (1911)

“You evidently feel that brevity is the soul of widowhood.”

Saki The Chronicles of Clovis

"The Match Maker"
The Chronicles of Clovis (1911)

“Eleanor hated boys, and she would have liked to have whipped this one long and often. It was perhaps the yearning of a woman who had no children of her own.”

Saki The Chronicles of Clovis

"The Jesting of Arlington Stringham"
The Chronicles of Clovis (1911)

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