Terra Incognita Quotes

“One of the many difficult things about women was that they tended to pick the most unsuitable times to tell you something they considered to be important, and then became irrationally upset when you failed to remember it.”
― Ruth Downie, Terra Incognita

“I seem to remember sitting on a golden bench, and she started chattering about the sunset, or something. She seemed quite happy so I let her get on with it. Then she got hold of my hand and asked me what I was thinking about. So I said, "The treatment of anal fistulae".”
― Ruth Downie, Terra Incognita

“Back from where? you're not going out again and leaving me here are you?? Holy Hercules I sound like somebody's wife”
― Ruth Downie, Terra Incognita

“What color is time? Where do the thoughts of the dead go? How is it diseases spread but miracles don't? Have you ever thought of that?”
― Ruth Downie, Terra Incognita

“But she’s only a woman!” The watch captain shook his head again. “So was Helen of Troy, sir. Look what she started.”
― Ruth Downie, Terra Incognita

“Getting angry with her cousin, she reminded herself, was like getting angry with a sheep for being stupid. It ruined your day and the sheep was too dim to care.”
― Ruth Downie, Terra Incognita

“British rain was rarely that simple. For days on end, instead of falling, it simply hung around in the air like a wife waiting for you to notice she was sulking.”
― Ruth Downie, Terra Incognita

“Three years with Claudia had taught Ruso that when a woman said something did not matter and refused to tell you what it was, it usually mattered a great deal—to her, if not to you. Frequently her way of punishing you for not knowing what it was in the first place was to refuse to tell you until you gave up asking. This was her cue to accuse you of not caring about her, otherwise you would have known what she wanted you to know without having to be told. Finally, if you were lucky, she would explain the latest way in which you had failed her expectations. If you were not lucky, she would explain...”
― Ruth Downie, Terra Incognita

“I’m sorry, Ruso. I know you mean well. But you’re so determined to do the right thing.” “What’s the matter with that?” “You don’t understand what the right thing is - which makes you dangerous.”
― Ruth Downie, Terra Incognita

“There were people with chronic pain, in need of a miracle and receiving only medicine and advice they had probably heard a hundred times before. There were hideous stinking ulcers to clean and dress and lectures to be given to their weary owners about hygiene and exercise and diet. There were people whose descriptions of their symptoms made no sense at all even though he understood all the words. Ingenuous was unable to explain what “He has feathers in his chest” meant, and “My knees are runny”.”
― Ruth Downie, Terra Incognita

“hung around in the air like a wife waiting for you to notice she was sulking.”
― Ruth Downie, Terra Incognita