Gaudy Night (Lord Peter Wimsey, #12)

by Dorothy L. Sayers

Of a scrupulous personal integrity, she embraced the irregularities of other people in a wide, unquestioning charity. As any student of literature must, she knew all the sins of the world by name, but it was doubtful whether she recognized them when she met them in real life. It was as though a misdemeanor committed by a person she knew was disarmed and disinfected by the contact.

If you truly want a thing, you don’t snatch; if you snatch, you don’t really want it.

I wish one could teach people nowadays that the doctrine of snatching what one thinks one wants is unsound.”

“I don’t think I could face it.” “Yes, you could. And you’ll get no peace till you do. I’ve been running away from myself for twenty years, and it doesn’t work. What’s the good of making mistakes if you don’t use them?