Lindsey Davis Quotes

'What's the verdict?'
'A shining new talent. A breathtaking story, written with mystical intensity. An author who will sell and sell.'

I asked why Grumio had had to turn to lesser things.'No call. In my father or grandfather's day all I would have needed in life were my cloak and shoes, my flask and strigil, a cup and knife to take to dinner, and a small wallet for my earnings. Everyone who could find the wherewithal would eagerly ask a wandering jokesmith in.'
'Sounds just like being a vagrant philosopher!'
'A cynic,' he agreed readily. 'Exactly. Most cynics are witty and all clowns are cynical. Meet us on the road, and who could tell the difference?’
'Me, I hope! I'm a good Roman. I'd take a five-mile detour to avoid a philosopher.'

If being hit on the head by a falling flower tub could be worth cash to the victim, what price a child’s life under civil law?

It struck me there might be a reason why Helena Justina whipped along at such a cracking pace: she did not want to be stuck in the wilderness with my corpse. I thanked Jove for her ruthless good sense. I did not want my corpse to be stuck with her in any case.

'How old now?'
'Thirty. Downhill to the dark boat across the Styx. Probably be sick over the side in Charon's ferry too…'

The plumber plodded along in silence, like a man who has learned to be polite to lunatics through dealing with civil engineers.

Architectural drawings may look beautiful and be admired by critics but to be good, they have to work in daily use.

Sometimes you run away by yourself purely so someone who cares will come to find you. Half the time nobody does. That's the tragedy of life.

I like my women in a few wisps of drapery: then I can hope for a chance to remove the wisps. If they start out with nothing I tend to get depressed because either they have just stripped off for someone else or, in my line of work, they are usually dead.

To know another person's fortune smacks of wanting to control their fate for the wrong reasons.

There comes a point for a nut-lover, Quintus thought, where funeral food is worth taking a risk, even when you are dining with a megalomaniac who wants to kill you.

Words are real if other people think they understand their meaning.

Stick with it, Xanthus. There are fortunes to be made out of bristle for a man with deft hands.

Sometimes information you barely noticed consciously comes back to you of its own accord.

We are Romans. We despise thought.