Dorothy Dunnett

“Where are the gods... of our everyday lives? The gods of dinner, of bathing, of turning out a good phrase?”

“There is nothing in the world so easy to explain as failure—it is, after all, what everybody does all the time.”

“For this is what we do. Put one foot forward and then the other. Lift our eyes to the snarl and smile of the world once more. Think. Act. feel. Add our little consequence to the tides of good and evil that flood and drain the world.”

“History is not a procession of illustrious people. It's about the people who were left out.”

“I believe that the only way to write a good book is to write the book you want to read.”

“A man who trusts nobody is apt to be the kind of man nobody trusts.”

“If you must be mad, be it not for the things of the world.”

“The most important thing in a book is the reader.”

“Of all the surfeit of subject-matter for humorous conversation, the condition of the human soul is surely the most fertile.”

“It is a great incentive to learning to aspire to be the best in your own field.”

“The title of a book is like a house's front door.”

“A man's mind is a tricky thing. It can be a tool or a weapon, a prison or a palace.”

“The world is not a safe place. It is a place of conflict and challenge, but it is also a place of beauty and joy.”