A Natural History Of Dragons Quotes
"With the boundless ingenuity of a child, I named him Greenie, and he sits on a shelf in my study to this day, tiny wings outspread."
"Why do chickens have wishbones? To make wishes on!"
"Vinegar," she said, and that one word set me upon the path that led to where I stand today."
"I will not tax my readers with a detailed description of the treatment I received at that point; the more adventurous among you have no doubt experienced similar chastisement after your own escapades."
"Your behaviour was not appropriate for a young lady. Do you understand that?"
"In a few years, we must find a husband for you, and that will not be easy if you persist in making trouble for yourself."
"You find them in all kinds of birds—chickens, turkeys, geese, pigeons, and the like."
"But you find them in all kinds of birds—chickens, turkeys, geese, pigeons, and the like."
"However did you keep it? Mine fell all to pieces."
"You have no idea. At least when men visit with friends, it is acceptable for them to talk about more than fashion and perhaps the occasional silly novel."
"I wanted, in short, the intellectual life of a gentleman—or as close to it as I could come."
"I cannot talk to ladies about the latest lectures at the Philosophers’ Colloquium, and men will not include me in their conversations."
"I wanted to stretch the wings of my mind and see how far I could fly."
"Books alone cannot keep me company for a year."
"You would be thought odd for going on an expedition to Vystrana; I would be thought a monster."
"Protection and safety do not include ventures of this sort."
"The question is whether that concern is important enough to warrant making my wife miserable."
"I am well aware of them, my lord. Both from my husband, and from my own reading."
"Despite that, you still wish to be a part of the expedition."
"Either she’s birdbrained and you failed to make the situation clear to her—in which case she’ll be entirely your problem."
"I vowed on the spot to show no behaviour that might possibly be construed as birdbrained, from then until the end of time."
"You’re like a little girl who’s been told for the first time that she may have a pony."
"You might be of some use—in which case I take full credit for bringing her along, and commandeer her services in filing my own notes."
"I fear I drove the maids quite to distraction with my interference."
"We are not supposed to speak of such things, of course, but on that cold night, my mind performed an even colder arithmetic."
"I was attempting, against my inclination, to conform to the expectations of travel writing, as practiced by young ladies at the time."
"I detested the cold and the isolation, the repetitive food reeking of garlic—but the true root of my suffering was that I was in a foreign land, far from everything familiar."
"We have not been married for so long; perhaps I can pass it off as an overly affectionate attachment to you, that I still cannot bear for you to be parted from my side."
"This modern speed has brought many improvements for commerce, diplomacy, and learning, and more. And yet, there is a part of me that misses the old way."
"I pray you pardon me a moment of sentimentality when I say that I adored my husband’s laugh."
"I will not harp too much on the misery I felt when I sat down to yet another sour-flavored soup, or looked out the (unglazed) window to see snow falling yet again."
"I should never have let you come here," he said through their muffing barrier.
"A scraped knee, at worst. And how much time have I saved you? We could waste the entire summer up here, waiting for Mr. Gritelkin to come back—well, this way we can get on with our research."
"You can hardly know the one without the other—not if you wish to avoid being eaten."
"Who said anything about trusting them? I intend to bring both of you with me, you and Camherst both, and you can argue about who gets to skulk in the bushes with a rifle."
"I am a natural historian; I assure you, it is common to all species, and nothing to be ashamed of."
"I am not the sort of lady for whom protectiveness sets her heart aflutter, but the incident had revealed an intensity of feeling in my husband that took me quite by surprise."
"Is it any wonder I developed such reckless habits later in life? Chase after smugglers in the middle of the night; achieve information and a chance to further my dreams."
"It’s as if there is a dragon inside me. I don’t know how big she is; she may still be growing. But she has wings, and strength, and—and I can’t keep her in a cage."
"But to shoot a dragon for science? That, for some reason, is cruel."
"We might even have waited for one of them to do the deed, at which point my letter-writers might have been better satisfied with our virtue."
"But if it were, incidents like this would be much more common, and the smugglers would know the cause."
"It’s why we brought you, isn’t it? That and to file papers—but we don’t yet have any, so there you have it."
"A scientist must never reason ahead of his data."
"But my desire for knowledge was stronger than my religious sensibilities, which after all were more a matter of unthinking habit than real conviction."
"I’m afraid I gave very great offense to the priest of Drustanev by walking in the front door of his tabernacle."
"This is my grandiose way of saying: I hadn’t paid the blindest bit of attention to the local tabernacle, even during the Feast of the Reception."
"We stopped at the same instant, and exchanged looks of identical dismay."
"Paralysis over this question resulted, as it so often does, in me taking a third, entirely unsatisfactory, route."
"But when I came back in through the women’s door, Menkem made no comment."
"I should have excluded Menkem, too, except that I was fairly certain the ritual required him to be present."
"All my childhood obsession with dragons welled up in my throat, choking me."
"But we will find out what is making them attack the shepherds, and put a stop to it."
"If you are reading this book because you have an interest in pursuing a science, whether natural history or some other, bear that warning in mind."
"It was a lovely hike and discovered something completely unknown to the science of dragon naturalism."
"I have never liked Vystrana so much as I did on that journey."
"I recognized the signs of frustrated idleness, and took steps to mitigate them."
"I argue, to the contrary of Manda and her ilk, that such a deep and pleasant rapport is love."
"A queen dragon lairing there, and all the others keep their distance."
"I cannot think of anything Jacob ever truly refused me—even things others would say he should have done."
"Dead dragons will attack no one. And we can protect ourselves better than the peasants can."
"Science is for withered-up old men in dusty rooms."
"I’m talking about wealth. And power. The nations of the world already squabble over iron; that will only grow worse with time."
"The man who can offer them an alternative will be able to name his price."
"I will not be driven out of Drustanev by peasant superstition."
"What do you think we are? Just because Astimir is an idiot, playing those tricks—but you’re outsiders; half the village would say you deserved it."
"Once there’s been a quiet night or two, people will begin to accept it."
"If you must be the victim of a dragon’s extraordinary breath, I recommend the rock-wyrm."
"We have too much technology that needs it, and a hunger for more."
"If I could cut the throat of a fallen man, whatever his crimes might be."
"We hadn’t been to the ruins yet. Astimir needed a justification for his haunting."
"I am not too delicate to go a night without sleep. I will stand watch alone or with someone else."
"That only gives the tsar more reason to ignore you."