I tell stories. I kind of stumbled on that by trying to combine Jane Austen and magic. Susanna Clarke More Quotes by Susanna Clarke More Quotes From Susanna Clarke It was an old fashioned house --the sort of house in fact, as Strange expressed it, which a lady in a novel might like to be persecuted in. Susanna Clarke housemightfacts Magic, madam, is like wine and, if you are not used to it, it will make you drunk. Susanna Clarke drunkmagicwine It is curious and we magicians collect curiosities, you know. Susanna Clarke magiciancuriouscuriosity He had once found himself in a room with Lady Bessborough's long-haired white cat. He happened to be dressed in an immaculate black coat and trousers, and was there thoroughly alarmed by the cat's stalking round and round and making motions as if it proposed to sit upon him. He waited until he believed himself to be unobserved, then he picked it up, opened a window, and tossed it out. Despite falling three storeys to the ground, the cat survived, but one of its legs was never quite right afterward and it always evinced the greatest dislike of gentlemen in black clothes. Susanna Clarke catwhitefall Well, Henry, you can cease frowning at me. If I am a magician, I am a very indifferent one. Other adepts summon up fairy-spirits and long-dead kings. I appear to have conjured the spirit of a banker. Susanna Clarke kingslongbankers Strange bent over these things, with a concentration to rival Minervois's own, questioning, criticizing and proposing. Strange and the two engravers spoke French to each other. To Strange's surprize Childermass understood perfectly and even addressed one or twoquestions to Minervois in his own language. Unfortunately, Childermass's French was so strongly accented by his native Yorkshire that Minervois did not understand and asked Strange if Childermass was Dutch. Susanna Clarke yorkshirerivalstwo There is nothing in the world so easy to explain as failure - it is, after all, what everybody does all the time. Susanna Clarke easydoeworld Mr. Robinson was a polished sort of person. He was so clean and healthy and pleased about everything that he positively shone - which is only to be expected in a fairy or an angel, but is somewhat disconcerting in an attorney. Susanna Clarke healthyfairyangel He screamed. Mmm?' inquired the gentleman. I...I would never presume to interrupt you, sir. But the ground appears to be swallowing me up.' It is a bog,' said the gentleman, helpfully. It is certainly a most terrifying substance. Susanna Clarke gentlemanswallowingsubstance What nobility of feeling! To sacrifice your own pleasure to preserve the comfort of others! It is a thing, I confess, that would never occur to me. Susanna Clarke sacrificecomfortfeelings The governess was not much liked in the village. She was too tall, too fond of books, too grave, and, a curious thing, never smiled unless there was something to smile at. Susanna Clarke curiousvillagebook you must learn to live as I do - in the face of constant criticism, opposition and censure. That, sir, is the English way. Susanna Clarke criticismfacesway Lovers are rarely the most rational beings in creation. Susanna Clarke rationalcreationlovers He smiles but rarely and watches other men to see when they laugh and then does the same. Susanna Clarke doelaughingmen The land is all too shallow It is painted on the sky And trembles like the wind-shook rain When the Raven King passed by Susanna Clarke kingsrainwind Perhaps I am too tame, too domestic a magician. But how does one work up a little madness? I meet with mad people every day in the street, but I never thought before to wonder how they got mad. Perhaps I should go wandering on lonely moors and barren shores. That is always a popular place for lunatics - in novels and plays at any rate. Perhaps wild England will make me mad. Susanna Clarke lonelyplaypeople For, though the room was silent, the silence of half a hundred cats is a peculiar thing, like fifty individual silences all piled one on top of another. Susanna Clarke catpeculiarsilence Unfortunately, Childermass's French was so strongly accented by his native Yorkshire that Minervois did not understand and asked Strange if Childermass was Dutch. Susanna Clarke dutchyorkshirestrange It is also true that his hair had a reddish tinge and, as everybody knows, no one with red hair can ever truly be said to be handsome. Susanna Clarke handsomeredhair It has been remarked (by a lady infinitely cleverer than the present author) how kindly disposed the world in general feels to young people who either die or marry. Susanna Clarke youngpeopleworld
