The siding became a sea wall holding back the waves of housing

A few steps on and the ground gave way on either side, giving the impression of being on an elevated causeway. To my left, through the bare shrubbery, the siding became a sea wall holding back the waves of housing. Tidy terracotta boxes with grey roofs rolled with the landscape's contours like a swelling ocean, its peaks and troughs awash with the debris of suburbia: wires, cars, caravans and, cresting the waves, the square tower of a church, a tree or two and a dull defiance of offices.

R. Cowan, Common ground (2015), 19

In fact the speaker had been describing some species of wildfowl

Once I told Thesiger of a cocktail party in London where in a momentary dead silence a voice went on loudly with the last words of a sentence "... and only copulate at two O'Clock in the morning, in running water." "Ah," said Thesiger, "Sabians"; but in fact the speaker had been describing some species of wildfowl.

G. Maxwell, A reed shaken by the wind (1957), 191

And don't send Jesus. This is no job for a boy

During a competition at Deal [Viscount Castlerosse] buried his ball in a bunker: the crowd that gathered to see how he would extricate it watched as he cried to the skies, 'Oh God, come down and help me with this shot. And don't send Jesus. This is no job for a boy.'

A. Tinniswood, The long weekend (2016), 302

Perhaps as much as 50 per cent of all agricultural land ... [was] devoted to game conservation

By 1911 there were around 25,000 keepers employed on estates in England, Wales and Scotland; and the disadvantages to the tenant farmer of so much countryside - perhaps as much as 50 per cent of all agricultural land - being devoted to game conservation was causing disquiet in official circles.

A. Tinniswood, The long weekend (2016), 292

As a matter of course, young ladies do not eat cheese at dinner parties

'A member of the Aristocracy' recommended that young women should steer clear of the more highly seasoned dishes ('middle-aged and elderly ladies are at liberty to do pretty much as they please'). They should also avoid artichokes, because it was impossible to eat them elegantly; and 'as a matter of course, young ladies do not eat cheese at dinner parties'.

A. Tinniswood, The long weekend (2016), 278-9

Then they prised up a floorboard at the other end and unleashed a ferret

In the 1920s, Lord and Lady Braye were baffled by the prospect of having to run cables through their long ballroom without wrecking its delicate eighteenth century stuccowork. Then someone had a bright idea: they prised up a floorboard at one end and dropped a dead rabbit into the void; then they prised up a floorboard at the other end and unleashed a ferret, with a string tied to his collar. When the ferret had managed to negotiate the joists and reached the rabbit the string was used to pull through the cable and hey presto! the problem was solved.

A. Tinniswood, The long weekend (2016), 152

Light, sun and air were prized in a way that medieval and Tudor forebears would have found incomprehensible. So were bathrooms.

The balancing act which so many owners of older country houses had to perform was to live in a congenial 'muddle of museum carpets [and] ruined castles' - Harold Nicolson's description of life at Sissinghurst - and still have mod cons and home comforts. The older the house way, the harder that was. By the 1920s light, sun and air were prized in a way that medieval and Tudor forebears would have found incomprehensible. So were bathrooms.

A. Tinniswood, The long weekend (2016), 137

But if you put 1 billion people on the wrong continent you can still get hired

A single typo in your CV and you probably don't get the job. But if you put 1 billion people on the wrong continent you can still get hired. You can even get a promotion.

Most Western employees in large multinationals and financial institutions are still trying to operate according to a deeply rooted, outdated, and distorted worldview.

H. Rosling, Factfulness (2018), 251

Most countries that make great economic and social progress are not democracies

I strongly believe that liberal democracy is the best way to run a country. People like me, who believe this, are often tempted to argue that democracy leads to, or is even a requirement for, other good things, like peace, social progress, health improvements, and economic growth. But here's the thing, and it is hard to accept: the evidence does not support this stance.

Most countries that make great economic and social progress are not democracies ...Of the ten countries with the fastest economic growth in the years 2012-2016, nine of them score low on democracy.

H. Rosling, Factfulness (2018), 201

In the deepest poverty you should not do anything perfectly. If you do you are stealing resources from where they can be better used

I remember the words of Ingegerd Rooth, who had been working as a missionary nurse in Congo and Tanzania before she became my mentor. She always told me, "In the deepest poverty you should not do anything perfectly. If you do you are stealing resources from where they can be better used."

H. Rosling, Factfulness (2018), 127

It wasn't radioactivity, but the fear of radioactivity, that killed them

People escaped the province [of Fukushima] as fast as they could, but 1,600 more people died. It was not the leaking radioactivity that killed them. Not one person has yet been reported as having died from the very thing that people were fleeing from. Those 1,600 people died because they escaped. They were mainly old people who died because of the mental and physical stresses of the evacuation itself or of life in evacuation shelters. It wasn't radioactivity, but the fear of radioactivity, that killed them.

H. Rosling, Factfulness (2018), 115

There were no camera teams around as these children fainted in the arms of their crying parents

For ten days or so in 2015 the world was watching the images from Nepal [from the earthquake], where 9,000 people had died. During the sane ten days diarrhea from contaminated drinking water also killed 9,000 children across the world. There were no camera teams around as these children fainted in the arms of their crying parents.

H. Rosling, Factfulness (2018), 111

When I heard old men round the fire telling legendary tales of courage and generosity, it was ... of tattered herdsmen in the deserts of Arabia

Alexander too had passed this way, and in Central Asia the magic of his name still lingers in the mountain valleys where men swear they are descended from his soldiers. In Iraq, however, he was forgotten. When I heard old men round the fire telling legendary tales of courage and generosity, it was never of two-horned Alexander that they spoke, nor of Caliphs who had ruled in splendour in Baghdad, but of tattered herdsmen in the deserts of Arabia.

W. Thesiger, The Marsh Arabs (1964), 97

As people are more important to me than places I decided to return to the Arabs

Besides, being fond of Arabs, it was probable that I could never really like Kurds, Although the landscape appealed to me the people did not. Admittedly I was hampered by not speaking their language, but even had I done so I felt I should still have not liked them. As people are more important to me than places I decided to return to the Arabs.

W. Thesiger, The Marsh Arabs (1964), 20-21

This is the kind of brutal introduction that I don't think you could publish anymore.

It's not that Kansas is the best place to grow wheat - it's that wheat is the only thing that will grow in Kansas

From 1850 to 1950, he [Steve Jones] discovered, there were more than 143 varieties of wheat grown in Washington. And Whidbey Island, just west of the Skagit valley, had set the world record with one wheat crop of nearly 120 bushels an acre.

"People say wheat is 'out of place' around here," he said. "I always get a kick out of that. A place like Kansas is considered real wheat country. But that's not correct. It's not that Kansas is the best place to grow wheat - it's that wheat is the only thing that will grow in Kansas."

D. Barber, The third plate (2014), 400

Leaving aside the low statistical rating of dustmen among Eton parents

The official justification for this primitive rite [fagging] was that it was a great 'leveller', as every boy, whether the son of a duke or a dustman, had to go through it. Leaving aside the low statistical rating of dustmen among Eton parents, it has been my observation that dukes, even royalty,, who were cut down to size by the process, have had little difficulty in reverting, within a few short years, to the manner to which they were born.

H. Lyttleton, It just occurred to me ... (2006), 25

Ham is God speaking

I was reminded of once hearing a young Spanish chef describe what iberico ham meant to him: "Ham?" he said with a broad smile. "Ham is God speaking."

D. Barber, The third plate (2014), 163

Less than a hundred years later, only 4 percent of farms had chickens

In 1900, diversification (at least on some level) was inherent in agriculture; 98 percent of farms had chickens, 82 percent grew corn, and 80 percent raised milk cows and pigs. Less than a hundred years later, only 4 percent of farms had chickens, 25 percent grew corn, 8 percent had milk cows, and 10 percent raised pigs. And, in may cases, the farms producing these commodities did so exclusively.

D. Barber, The third plate (2014), 74

There were four kinds of countries: developed, underdeveloped, Japan, and Argentina

For economists, Argentina is a perplexing country. To illustrate how difficult it was to understand Argentina, the Nobel Prize-winning economist Simon Kuznets once famously remarked that there were four kinds of countries: developed, underdeveloped, Japan, and Argentina. Kuznets thought so because, around the time of the First World War, Argentina was one of the richest countries in the world. 

D. Acemoglu and J. Robinson, Why Nations Fail (2012), 384

This was a very large state budget for the period, and is in fact larger than what we see today in many parts of the world

[After 1688 in England] The state started expanding, with expenditures soon reaching around 10 percent of national income. This was underpinned by an expansion of the tax base ... This was a very large state budget for the period, and is in fact larger than what we see today in many parts of the world. The state budgets in Colombia, for example, reached this relative size only in the 1980s. In many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa - for example, in Sierra Leone - the state budget even today would be far smaller relative to the size of the economy without large inflows of foreign aid. 

D. Acemoglu and J. Robinson, Why Nations Fail (2012), 196