Rosemary Sutcliff Quotes

• It may be that the night will close over us in the end, but I believe that morning will come again. Morning always grows out of the darkness, though maybe not for the people who saw the sun go down. We are the Lantern Bearers, my friend; for us to keep something burning, to carry what light we can forward into the darkness and the wind.

  Rosemary Sutcliff

  Morning, Believe, Night

  Rosemary Sutcliff (2011). “The Lantern Bearers”, p.217, Macmillan

  51 Copy quote

• We shall have made such a blaze that men will remember us on the other side or the dark.

  Rosemary Sutcliff

  Dark, Men, Sides

  Rosemary Sutcliff (1981). “The sword and the circle: King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table”, Vintage

  8 Copy quote

• When the playful me shows up, I am ready to be a serious learner … a culture of playfulness is closely related to the capacity to learn.

  Rosemary Sutcliff

  Culture, Serious, Capacity

  7 Copy quote

• I do not think that you can be changing the end of a song or a story like that, as though it were quite separate from the rest. I think the end of a story is part of it from the beginning.

  Rosemary Sutcliff

  Song, Thinking, Stories

  Rosemary Sutcliff (2013). “The Shining Company”, p.43, Random House

  8 Copy quote

• Better to be a laughing-stock than lose the fort for fear of being one.

  Rosemary Sutcliff

  Courage, Fear, Laughing

  Rosemary Sutcliff (2011). “The Eagle”, p.21, Macmillan

  4 Copy quote

• And it came to Marcus suddenly that slaves very seldom whistled. They might sing, if they felt like it or if the rhythm helped their work, but whistling was in some way different; it took a free man to make the sort of noise Esca was making.

  Rosemary Sutcliff

  Men, Different, Noise

  Rosemary Sutcliff (2011). “The Eagle of the Ninth”, p.479, Oxford University Press - Children

  4 Copy quote

• But tonight, because Rome had fallen and Felix was dead, because of Valerius’s shame, the empty hut seemed horribly lonely, and there was a small aching need in him for somebody to notice, even if they were not glad, that he had come home.

  Rosemary Sutcliff

  Lonely, Home, Rome

  8 Copy quote

• ...extraordinarily beautiful, and slightly out of focus.

  Rosemary Sutcliff

  Beautiful, Focus

  Rosemary Sutcliff (2013). “Frontier Wolf”, p.76, Random House

  7 Copy quote

• Esca tossed the slender papyrus roll onto the cot, and set his own hands over Marcus's. "I have not served the Centurion because I was his slave," he said, dropping unconsciously into the speech of his own people. "I have served Marcus, and it was not slave-service...my stomach will be glad when we start on this hunting trail.

  Rosemary Sutcliff

  Hunting, Hands, People

  6 Copy quote

• The young Centurion, who had been completely still throughout, said very softly, as though to himself, "Greater love hath no man--" and Justin thought it sounded as though he were quoting someone else.

  Rosemary Sutcliff

  Men, Said, Young

  Rosemary Sutcliff (2011). “The Silver Branch”, p.57, Macmillan

  7 Copy quote

• I have a special "ah, here I am again, I know exactly what they are going to have for breakfast" feeling when I get back into Roman Britain, which is very nice.

  Rosemary Sutcliff

  Nice, Here I Am, Feelings

  "Rosemary Sutcliff's The Eagle of the Ninth" by Charlotte Higgins, www.theguardian.com. April 1, 2011.

  4 Copy quote

• And what will they do to you when you have told them this story?' Esca said very simply, 'They will kill me.' 'I am sorry, but I do not think much of that plan.' Marcus said.

  Rosemary Sutcliff

  Sorry, Thinking, Stories

  Rosemary Sutcliff (2011). “The Eagle”, p.161, Macmillan

  4 Copy quote

• Why should a deserter take the trouble to light Rutupiae Beacon?” Aquila demanded, and his voice sounded rough in is own ears. “Maybe in farewell, maybe in defiance. Maybe to hold back the dark for one more night.

  Rosemary Sutcliff

  Farewell, Dark, Night

  4 Copy quote

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