Quotes from Lindsey Davis

Their work was undercover—yet their existence unconcealed. That is how fear works.

Rumours would do. When you blacken someone's name in politics, hearsay can be freely deployed. Scandal needs to be colourful, not true.

I had no idea whether Faustus enjoyed gossip. If not, I could teach him. All you need is curiosity and a sense of humor. He had those.

Spies have no sense of timing.

As well as her benevolence toward the nation as a whole, a busy task, Salus also guards every individual. I was going to need her myself today.

legendary. 'Oh no!

The ghost accused the widow's new husband of having murdered her old one (himself), leaving Moschion in anguish about what to do. Obviously the rest of the play concerned Moschion's frustrated efforts to get the ghost into court as a witness.

Only the rich can stand for office.

Los banquetes de Vespasiano eran realmente chapados a la antigua. Las camareras se dejaban la ropa puesta y el emperador jamás envenenaba los alimentos.

But, remember, a tyrant hates to admit he is one," Faustus said quietly. "The worse he is, the more he claims—and even believes—that

any henchman who thinks himself the equal of his superior is dangerous.

Pompeya contaba con vino, cereales, lana, metalistería, aceite de oliva, un ambiente de pujante prosperidad y diez atalayas estratégicas empotradas en la muralla de la ciudad. —¡Es un lugar que se propone durar!— exclamé y fue uno de mis comentarios más sagaces.

Si una mujer con el aspecto de la Venus de Praxíteles se hubiese apeado de una fuente para sentarse en mi regazo, ataviada un par de sandalias de fantasía y una sonrisa, la habría apartado y me habría alejado para rumiar a solas.

Premature action alerts the opposition.

By this evening, the mad murderer would have a golden alabastron containing a deadly potion made by Cappadocian dwarfs from a recipe handed down through thirty generations, to which there was no antidote except moonbeams, and he would identify himself by etching a Greek letter onto the foreheads of all his victims as they twitched and gasped their last. The Omega Killer had been born, and it was my fault.

Sabía que el mundo era un lugar sucio. Lo que pasa es que no quería pensar que pudiera ser tan deprimente.

Her name was Cassiana Clara.

Never lend if you need repayment; never give where you want a return.

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 despise women who rely on men entirely for their own existence.

You could tell those two had been married by the way that she ignored him.

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

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.

In my experience, men who sit in corners are the ones to watch.