Dorothy L. Sayers Quotes - Page 7

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And heresy is, as I have tried to show, largely the expression of opinion of the untutored average man, trying to grapple with the problems of the universe at the point where they begin to interfere with his daily life and thought.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Men, Expression, Average

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Fantasy works inwards upon its author, blurring the boundary between the visioned and the actual, and associating itself ever moreclosely with the Ego, so that the child who has fantasied himself a murderer ends by becoming a Loeb or a Leopold. The creative Imagination works outwards, steadily increasing the gap between the visioned and the actual, till this becomes the great gulf fixed between art and nature. Few writers of crime-stories become murderers--if any do, it is not the result of identifying themselves with their murderous heroes.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Art, Children, Hero

Dorothy L. Sayers (2015). “The Mind of the Maker”, p.93, Open Road Media

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Do you find it easy to get drunk on words?" "So easy that, to tell you the truth, I am seldom perfectly sober.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Drunk, Sober, Easy

Dorothy L. Sayers (2012). “Gaudy Night”, p.393, Open Road Media

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All the children seem to be coming out quite intelligent, thank goodness. It would have been such a bore to be the mother of morons, and it’s an absolute toss-up, isn’t it? If one could only invent them, like characters in books, it would be much more satisfactory to a well-regulated mind.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Mother, Children, Book

Dorothy L. Sayers (2012). “The Nine Tailors”, p.464, Open Road Media

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A passage is not plain English - still less is it good English - if we are obliged to read it twice to find out what it means.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Mean, Clarity, Plain English

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Heaven deliver us, what's a poet? Something that can't go to bed without making a song about it.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Song, Heaven, Bed

Dorothy L. Sayers (2012). “Busman's Honeymoon”, p.9, Open Road Media

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That there is a secret itself is a secret.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Secret

Dorothy L. Sayers, Jill Paton Walsh (1999). “Thrones, Dominations”, p.145, Macmillan

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Variety, individuality, peculiarity, eccentricity and indeed crankiness are agreeable to the British mind; they make life more interesting.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Interesting, Personality, Individuality

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For God's sake, let's take the word 'possess' and put a brick round its neck and drown it ... We can't possess one another. We can only give and hazard all we have.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Giving, Hazards, Sake

Dorothy L. Sayers (2012). “Busman's Honeymoon”, p.392, Open Road Media

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Of all devils let loose in the world there is no devil like devoted love.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Devil, World, Devoted

Dorothy L. Sayers (2012). “Gaudy Night”, p.513, Open Road Media

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She always says, my lord, that facts are like cows. If you look them in the face hard enough they generally run away.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Running, Looks, Cows

Dorothy L. Sayers (2013). “The Lord Peter Wimsey Mysteries: Whose Body?, Clouds of Witness, and Unnatural Death”, p.327, Open Road Media

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There is also one excellent reason why the veriest amateur may feel entitled to have an opinion about education. For if we are not all professional teachers, we have all, at some time or other, been taught. Even if we learned nothing-perhaps in particular if we learned nothing-our contribution to the discussion may have a potential value.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Teacher, Taught, Reason Why

Dorothy L. Sayers (2006). “The Poetry of Search and the Poetry of Statement: On Dante and Other Writers”, p.155, Wipf and Stock Publishers

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But you see, I can believe a thing without understanding it. It's all a matter of training.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Believe, Understanding, Training

Dorothy L. Sayers (2012). “Have His Carcase”, p.351, Open Road Media

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There's ways and ways of dyin'. Some is took, and some takes French leave, and others is 'elped out of life.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Way

Dorothy L Sayers (2009). “The Documents in the Case”, p.71, Hachette UK

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I gather that he nearly knocked you down, damaged your property, and generally made a nuisance of himself, and that you instantly concluded he must be some relation to me.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Nuisance, Made, Relation

Dorothy L. Sayers (2012). “Gaudy Night”, p.410, Open Road Media

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But it is the mark of all movements, however well-intentioned, that their pioneers tend, by much lashing of themselves into excitement, to lose sight of the obvious.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Sight, Pioneers, Movement

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She suddenly saw Wimsey in a new light. She knew him to be intelligent, clean, courteous, wealthy, well-read, amusing and enamored, but he had not so far produced in her that crushing sense of inferiority which leads to prostration and hero-worship. But she now realized that there was, after all, something godlike about him. He could control a horse.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Crush, Horse, Hero

Dorothy L. Sayers (2012). “Have His Carcase”, p.271, Open Road Media

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We shall know what things are of overmastering importance when they have overmastered us.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Importance, Knows

Dorothy L. Sayers (2012). “The Nine Tailors”, p.447, Open Road Media

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Advertise, or go under.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Advertising

Dorothy L. Sayers (2012). “Murder Must Advertise”, p.414, Open Road Media

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Listen, Harriet. I do unterstand. I know you don't want either to give or to take ... You don't want ever again to have to depend for happiness on another person." "That's true. That's the truest thing you ever said." "All right. I can respect that. Only you've got to play the game. Don't force an emotional situation and then blame me for it." "But I don't want any situation. I want to be left in peace.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Emotional, Games, Play

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Heroics that don't come off are the very essence of burlesque.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Essence, Burlesque

Dorothy L Sayers (2009). “Gaudy Night: Lord Peter Wimsey”, p.333, Hachette UK

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But suppose one doesn't quite know which one wants to put first. Suppose," said Harriet, falling back on words which were not her own, "suppose one is cursed with both a heart and a brain?" "You can usually tell," said Miss de Vine, "by seeing what kind of mistakes you make. I'm quite sure that one never makes fundamental mistakes about the thing one really wants to do. Fundamental mistakes arise out of lack of genuine interest. In my opinion, that is.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Mistake, Fall, Heart

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there is undoubtedly something irritating about the favorites of fortune.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Luck, Fortune, Irritating

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Philip wasn't the sort of man to make a friend of a woman. He wanted devotion. I gave him that. I did, you know. But I couldn't stand being made a fool of. I couldn;t stand being put on probation, like an office-boy, to see if I was good enough to be condescended to. I quite thought he was honest when he said he didn't believe in marriage -- and then it turned out that it was a test, to see whether my devotion was abject enough. Well, it wasn't. I didn't like having matrimony offered as a bad-conduct prize.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Believe, Boys, Men

Dorothy L. Sayers (2012). “Strong Poison”, p.53, Open Road Media

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Why? Oh, well - I thought you'd be rather an attractive person to marry. That's all. I mean, I sort of took a fancy to you. I can't tell you why. There's no rule about it, you know.

Dorothy L. Sayers

Mean, Fancy, Attractive

Dorothy L. Sayers (2012). “Strong Poison”, p.55, Open Road Media

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Dorothy L. Sayers

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Born: June 13, 1893
Died: December 17, 1957
Occupation: Writer
Cite this Page: Citation

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