It could be a fine thing ... to be gently but firmly drunk

He had discovered, quite be accident, that it could be a fine thing, on a grey, dismal morning - a morning of limp, oyster coloured weather - to be gently but firmly drunk, making a pleasure of melancholy. But it had to be undertaken with a chemist's precision; bad things could happen in the event of a mistake.

W. Tevis, The man who fell to earth (1963), 25

Pupils spend 80% of their time in class pretending to listen

What do pupils spend 80% of their time doing in class? I'm sure you can guess. It's pretending to listen. Children are brilliant pretenders. In his 2007 book The Hidden Lives of Learners, Nuthall recounts the tactics played out in classrooms across the world. Pupils will act as if they are trying to read a book as a teacher approaches, only to idly look out of the window as the soon as the teacher moves on.

L.E. Major, The good parent educator (2021), 125

But Debo christened him after her favourite jockey. She's never heard of the Duke of Wellington.

James Lees-Milne recorded in his diary that the Duke of Wellington was furious when he heard that Debo had called his son 'Morny', which happened to be a diminutive of the Wellesley title Lord Mornington. 'How would you like it,' he complained to the Duke of Devonshire at a party, 'if I christened my grandson Harty of Burlington?' Nancy broke in, 'But Debo christened him after her favourite jockey. She's never heard of the Duke of Wellington.'

M.S. Lovell, The Mitford girls (2001), 385, note 1 (p.564) 

Citing J.Less-Milne, Prophesying peace (1999), 345 

But her parents were adamant: London was no place for a sheep

The younger girls always loved staying in London, though for Decca any time spent there was marred because she was not allowed to take Miranda. 'She'll be no trouble,' she said on this occasion, adding, 'The dear thing would so love it. She's never been to London.' But her parents were adamant: London was no place for a sheep.

M.S. Lovell, The Mitford girls (2001),99

But one had been brought up an Anglican, and the process of change would have been a great bother

In fact, Laura had often thought that she would have liked to be a Catholic; she had always felt an affinity with those big busy cool churches abroad, the smell of incense, obsequious priests, candles. Even the ghastly statues and pictures. But one had been brought up an Anglican, and the process of change would have been a great bother, and anyway one didn't feel all that strongly about it.

 P. Lively, Treasures of time (1979), 114

I don't ... and I bet you don't really either, only it doesn't do to say.

Take my own particular pond, James went on smoothly, now frankly one of the pleasures of impending retirement is to leave the [civil] Service with a sense of how very much its recruitment has changed since my own youth. We are broader based. I like it.

I don't, thought Laura, and I bet you don't really either, only it doesn't do to say.

P. Lively, Treasures of time (1979), 93

Only to discover, when it was too late, that they had practically destroyed the British Army

For years Pitt and Dundas continued to pour men and money into the West Indies against what they were pleased to call brigands. Helped by the climate, the black labourers so recently slaves, and the loyal Mulattoes, led by their own officers, inflicted on Britain the severest defeat that has befallen a British expeditionary force between the days of Elizabeth and the Great War. The full story remained hidden for over a century, until it was unearthed in 1906 by Fortescue, the historian of the British Army. He puts the blame on Pitt and Dundas "who had full warning that on this occasion they would have to fight not only poor, sickly Frenchmen, but the Negro population of the West Indies. Yet they poured their troops into these pestilent islands, in the expectation that thereby they would destroy the power of France, only to discover, when it was too late, that they had practically destroyed the British Army.

....

By the end of 1796, after three years of war, the British had lost in the West Indies 80,000 soldiers including 40,000 actually dead, the latter number exceeding the total losses of Wellington's army from death, discharges, desertion and all causes from the beginning to the end of the Peninsular War. The cost in San Domingo alone had been £300,000 in 1794, £800,000 in 1795, £2,600,000 in 1796, and in January 1797 alone it was more than £700,000. Early in 1797 the British Government decided to withdraw and maintain control only of Mole St Nicholas and the island of Tortuga

C.L.R. James, The Black Jacobins (1938, 2001 edition), 118-9 and 164

To believe that change, and in particular the speed of change, is something peculiar to the twentieth century, is an error

In one generation, between roughly  1840 and 1870, Kentish Town was substantially altered from a suburban village, surrounded by fields, into the townscape we see today. To believe that change, and in particular the speed of change, is something peculiar to the twentieth century, is an error, at least where the physical environment is concerned.. Except in a few specific places, like New Town sites, the changes seen by many people today are as nothing compared with the paroxysms of alteration and despoliation weathered by their great-grandparents.

G. Tindall, The fields beneath (1977; 2010 edition), 143

Obviously date from an extinct era where there was no shortage of people to fetch, carry and sweep

As family homes today, these [London terraced] houses do not fulfil modern concepts of good design: four sets of stairs to service no more than eight or so rooms obviously date from an extinct era where there was no shortage of people to fetch, carry and sweep. But the design is otherwise less inconvenient than outsiders suppose. The numerous separate strata, initially reflecting the socially stratified nature of nineteenth-century life, adapt well to the disparate needs of the modern family, who do not necessarily wish to gather in one large circle round the parlour lamp of an evening, or even round the television set modern lighting and heading systems make such unity unnecessary

G. Tindall, The fields beneath (1977; 2010 edition), 121

Land use in London has traditionally been very wasteful, and still frequently is

Judged by continental standards, land use in London has traditionally been very wasteful, and still frequently is. Even today, more than 50 percent of all the land in inner London is actually open to the sky: some it is road space, some park or housing-estate space, but a great deal is individual garden.

G. Tindall, The fields beneath (1977; 2010 edition), 67-8