The Daughter of Time (Inspector Alan Grant, #5)

by Josephine Tey

perhaps a series of small satisfactions scattered like sequins over the texture of everyday life was of greater worth than the academic satisfaction of owning a collection of fine objects at the back of a drawer.

history was, as Matron had pointed out, an excellent way of acquiring a sense of perspective.

Truth isn’t in accounts but in account books.”

“Only historians tell you what they thought. Research workers stick to what they did.”