Quotes from Laurie R. King

The desperation to support an untenable position to which one is nonetheless committed has caused centuries of extreme mental gymnastics.

The police feared riot and disorder so much, it was ordered that any person caught looting would be shot on sight--with no suggestion as to how the soldier or policeman might tell if the person in his sights was a looter or a rightful home-owner. (Locked Rooms, chapter 8.)

Dr Freud has many insightful conclusions about the human mind," I continued bitterly, "but when it comes to women, he might do better investigating the male sex's preoccupation with cigars.

Many writers, good writers who ought to know better, focus so tightly on the structure demanded by a crime story that they lose track of the fact that they are writing a novel. Accusations of both sensationalism and trivialisation are, alas, often justified.

Om mane padme om

Pirate King, chapter 9

Interesting, is it not?" I must be better, I thought: his gnomic utterings were irritating me again.

I wouldn't mention that to him, if I were you.> < Ah, but if you /were/ me, perhaps you would.> --Pirate King, chapter 9

Interesting, is it not?" I must be better, I thought: his gnomic utterings were irritating me again. I replied in my customary way; namely, I ignored him.

Do you plan on indulging your flair for the dramatic throughout our time here?" "I expect so," he said complacently.

The work of any decent detective is at least nine-tenths monotony, despite the invariably brisk pace of any detective novel, or even a police file, for that matter . . . . No, if I wanted a life filled with non-stop excitement and challenge, I should not choose the life of a detective. High-wire acrobatics, perhaps, or teaching twelve-year-olds, or motherhood, but not detecting.

one might say that my entire life has been a wager against chance—

Young man?" he raged. "Young man! It's a damned good thing you did retire, if that's all that remains of the great detective's mind!" And with that he snatched off his oversized cap. A pair of long blonde plaits slithered down the woollen garments, turning him into a her. Thus, my first meeting with Mary Russell.

and Vivian eyed something no one else could see. Then

And why was this third dream still with me, lingering at my shoulder like some telegraph boy awaiting a reply?

Lady Molly, perhaps?

Sherlock Holmes, to Mary Russell: It seemed to me that your friend's missing aunt took precedence over my history of contrapuntal significance in Bach's cantatas. Mary Russell: I stared at him. It was one of the sweetest things he'd ever said.

A woman who plays by men's rules is a woman who ends up in a cage." "Or a coffin.

When we get out of here," I said, "I know you're angry, but don't kill him. You can hurt him, though. Hurting is fine.

Religion has proved to be the refuge of so many scoundrels, one begins by doubting, and waits to be proven wrong. [The Language of Bees, chapter 30]

Holmes, didn't you tell me a few weeks ago that there has been a series of burglaries from inns and public houses in Eastbourne?" "I hardly think two qualifies as a series, Russell. You are interrupting a delicate haemoglobin experiment, you know.

Holmes!" I exclaimed. "I thought you were busy." "By the time you let me go, the blood had clotted beyond all recognition," he said dismissively. He ignored the expressions on the faces around us that his statement had brought, and waved a hand at the young constable.

ratiocination.

Womankind is imprudent and soft or flexible. Imprudent because she cannot consider with wisdom and reason the things she hears and sees; and soft she is because she is easily bowed. —JOHN CHRYSOSTOM (c. 347–407)