Monday, 12 December 2022

The minstrel was known as Roland le Fartere and that the trick was to make a leap, a whistle and a fart

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Henry II, in the twelfth century, had been so fond of the favourite party trick of one of his minstrels that he gave him a thirty-acre estat...
Sunday, 11 December 2022

For they are necessary to have above all else, especially money

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First of all, he [the wise prince] will consider how much strength he has or can obtain, how many men are available and how much money. For ...
Friday, 9 December 2022

There would be lines of barracks beneath the deanary gardens.

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We wandered atop the walls: from here to Monk Bar, another medieval gatehouse, they follow the line of the Roman fortress's defences, an...
Thursday, 8 December 2022

Flattery calms all turbulence, emotional and atmospheric

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One day, before taking off from San Francisco, flight attendants summoned Hyland [the pilot] from the cockpit to deal with a frightened pass...
Wednesday, 7 December 2022

But the Bible is an oriental book. Its alien imagery has nothing to do with us.

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To my mind King James's Bible has been a very harmful influence on English prose. I am not so stupid as to deny its great beauty. It is ...
Tuesday, 6 December 2022

He had crossed out in pencil all the passages in the Book of Common Prayer that praised God

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It is strange that the devout should think God can be pleased when they slavishly pay them to him. When I was young I had an elderly friend ...
Monday, 5 December 2022

I have read a good many books on the art of fiction and all ascribe very small value to the plot

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As a writer of fiction I go back, through innumerable generations, to the teller of tales round the fire in the cavern that sheltered neolit...