Throne of Jade (Temeraire, #2)

by Naomi Novik

this had been translated for him. “I like that. It is good to show respect to old gods, even if they are not yours.

and all of it for the sake of Government. I am very tired of this Government, which I have never seen, and which is always insisting that I must do disagreeable things, and does no good to anybody.”

“No one has ever been able to tame a sea-serpent; even the Chinese do not say differently.” “You may as well say, that if a creature will not serve people, and learn their habits, it is not intelligent, and had just as well be killed,”

“It is not fair that we should be thus restricted by others’ fears, when we have not done anything wrong;

They argued the point and many others with increasing politeness, over the course of several hours.

So British...

Abasement to such a degree could not help but provoke disgust even in a recipient who demanded the gesture, it seemed to him, and only lead to even more contemptuous treatment.