To Love and Be Wise Quotes

“One of the secrets of a successful life is to know how to be a little profitably crazy.”
― Josephine Tey, To Love and Be Wise

“On an impulse he picked up the phone and asked for the London number.
"One hour delay. Call you back," said the triumphant voice at the other end.
"Priority," said Grant. And gave his credentials.
"Oh," said the voice, disappointed but game. "Oh well, I'll see what I can do."
"On the contrary," Grant said, "I'll see what you can do," and hung up.”
― Josephine Tey, To Love and Be Wise

“I have a palate, Williams. A precious possession. And I have no intention of prostituting it to pickles.”
― Josephine Tey, To Love and Be Wise

“There was no room in his life for Marta, and none in her life for him; but it was a pity, all the same.”
― Josephine Tey, To Love and Be Wise

“He is much too personable to be wholesome.”
― Josephine Tey, To Love and Be Wise

“Perhaps the old saying is true and it is not possible to love and be wise.”
― Josephine Tey, To Love and Be Wise

“She had bought herself a fashionable hat for the occasion, but had done nothing to accommodate it; so that the hat perched on her bird’s-nest of ginger hair as if it had dropped there from an upper window as she walked along the street. She was wearing her normal expression of pleased bewilderment and no make-up.”
― Josephine Tey, To Love and Be Wise

“Bill Maddox reported well of him to the village— "no airs at all and can't be fooled neither; upped with the bonnet and went over her as if he was bred to the trade"—so that by the time he appeared in the Swan with Walter of an evening Salcott St. Mary knew all about him and were prepared to accept him in spite of his reprehensible good looks.”
― Josephine Tey, To Love and Be Wise

“The fun had been so bland, so lightly handled, that its essential quality, its ruthlessness, had not been apparent.”
― Josephine Tey, To Love and Be Wise

“For Liz, all American men were divided into two classes: those who treated you as if you were a frail old lady, and those who treated you as if you were just frail.”
― Josephine Tey, To Love and Be Wise

“But it was never possible to forget that Searle was in a room. Why? she kept asking herself. Or rather, why not?”
― Josephine Tey, To Love and Be Wise

“She was afraid of what she called the young man’s “personableness.” She distrusted it for itself, and hated it as a potential threat to her house.”
― Josephine Tey, To Love and Be Wise

“Грант посмотрел на Марту, освещенную пламенем, элегантную, красивую, и подумал обо всех ролях, в которых он видел ее: куртизанки, злые фурии, карьеристки и домашние хозяйки-«тряпки». Актеры и правда обладают проницательностью, пониманием мотивов, движущих человеком, которое отсутствует у обычных людей. Это не имеет ничего общего с умом и очень мало — с образованностью. В общем смысле ум Марты был так же неразвит, как ум не очень способного одиннадцатилетнего ребенка. Ее внимание автоматически соскальзывало со всего, что было чуждо ее сиюминутным интересам, и результатом являлась ее инфантильная невежественность. То же самое Грант наблюдал у больничных сестер и переработавшихся G.P.. Однако дай ей в руки текст пьесы, и она из каких-то тайных, природных закромов вытащит все необходимое, чтобы выстроить собственную характеристику персонажа.”
― Josephine Tey, To Love and Be Wise

“— ... Я опоздала на автобус, потому что покупала обувку для сегодняшней танцульки.

— О! — произнес Грант, глядя на пакет, не поместившийся в битком набитой сумке. — Хрустальные?

— Не для меня, — сказала девушка, захлопывая дверь и удобно устраиваясь на сиденье. — Всякое там «домой-к-полуночи» — не для меня. И потом, знаете, башмачок был вовсе не хрустальный. Он был меховой. Французский или что-то вроде. Мы учили про это в школе.

Интересно, подумал Грант, остались ли у современной молодежи хоть какие-нибудь иллюзии? На что будет похож мир без сказки? Или для современного ребенка прелестная иллюзия того, что он сам — фигура первостепенного значения, вытеснила прежние, более абстрактные фантазии?”
― Josephine Tey, To Love and Be Wise

“I judged it better to do your breakfast myself. How do you like your eggs? Sunny side up?” “If you really want to know, I like them broken when they are half cooked and rummelled up with a fork.” “Panaché!” Marta said, delighted. “That is one I have not met before. We are growing intimate, aren’t we! I am probably the only woman alive except your housekeeper who knows that you like your breakfast eggs streaky. Or—am I?” “Well, there’s a woman in a village near Amiens that I once confessed it to. But I doubt if she would remember.” “She is probably making a fortune out of the idea. Eggs à l’Anglaise probably has a totally new meaning in France nowadays. Brown bread or white?” “Brown, please.”
― Josephine Tey, To Love and Be Wise

“but you have been in my hair for the last fourteen days, and I shall be very glad to get you out.”
― Josephine Tey, To Love and Be Wise

“Ever seen the old conjurer's trick of a lady sawn in half? There's a strong aroma of sawn lady about this...don't you smell it?”
― Josephine Tey, To Love and Be Wise

“children. She came up behind them along the field path from the church, and was dismayed by some quality of loveliness, of youth, that belonged to their gaiety. A quality that was not apparent in any communion between Liz and Walter.”
― Josephine Tey, To Love and Be Wise

“doormats. It was true that actors had a perception, an understanding of human motive, that normal people lacked. It had nothing to do with intelligence, and very little to do with education.”
― Josephine Tey, To Love and Be Wise

“Short of his having a rendezvous with a waiting plane—which only happens in boys’ stories, as far as I’m aware—”
― Josephine Tey, To Love and Be Wise

“The more windows on the world a policeman has the better he is likely to be at his job,”
― Josephine Tey, To Love and Be Wise