The House of Doctor Dee Quotes

“I was at peace with a world which afforded so much bounty, and began to enjoy living at the very end of time.”
― Peter Ackroyd, The House of Doctor Dee

“Books do not per­ish like hu­mankind. Of course we com­mon­ly see them bro­ken in the hab­er­dash­er's shop when on­ly a few months be­fore they lay bound on the sta­tion­er's stall; these are not true works, but mere trash and new­fan­gle­ness for the vul­gar. There are thou­sands of such gew­gaws and toys which peo­ple have in their cham­bers, or which they keep up­on their shelves, be­liev­ing that they are pre­cious things, when they are the mere pass­ing fol­lies of the pass­ing time and of no more val­ue than pa­pers gath­ered up from some dunghill or raked by chance out of the ken­nel. True books are filled with the pow­er of the un­der­stand­ing which is the in­her­itance of the ages: you may take up a book in time, but you read it in eter­ni­ty.”
― Peter Ackroyd, The House of Doctor Dee

“There is a camaraderie that grows up among those who work with old books and old papers, largely, I suspect, because we understand that we are at odds with the rest of the world: we are travelling backwards, while all those around us are still moving forward.”
― Peter Ackroyd, The House of Doctor Dee

“There is nothing in England more constant than the inconstancy of dress.”
― Peter Ackroyd, The House of Doctor Dee

“Wouldn't it be nice to return to some of the old theories? Soul and body? The four humours?'
'Oh, they never worked.'
'Of course they did. Everything works in its own period. Don't you think that people were cured by medieval doctors, soaking up black melancholy bile with white salpetre? We could no more use their remedies than they could use ours, but they did work once. That's what you have to remember. Of course some people say that they might work again.”
― Peter Ackroyd, The House of Doctor Dee

“On my stage,
numerology, geometry and astrology were all combined in one. As
the music played, a roof of stars appeared, many shining spheres
wrought within a background of the deepest blue; and upon the
same ground of artifice it seemed as if the eleven circles of the
eleven heavens revolved wonderfully with the planets and the
stars. Nothing perishes, but stands in eternity.”
― Peter Ackroyd, The House of Doctor Dee

“Понимаешь, прошлое - сложная штука. Тебе кажется, что ты разобрался в человеке или событии, но стоит завернуть за угол, и все снова меняется.”
― Peter Ackroyd, The House of Doctor Dee

“-Никакой истории на свете нет, - сказал я. - История существует только в настоящем.”
― Peter Ackroyd, The House of Doctor Dee

“Красильщик может вычернить любую шерсть, какой бы белизны она ни была.”
― Peter Ackroyd, The House of Doctor Dee

“Воистину, ты похож на павлина, подумал я: тот тоже чванится свим блестящим опереньем, но испачканные навозом ноги выдают в нем простого обитателя птичьего двора.”
― Peter Ackroyd, The House of Doctor Dee

“- Ты любишь его, Мэтти?
- Нет. Не знаю. Все пользуются этим словом, но, по-моему, оно ничего не значит.”
― Peter Ackroyd, The House of Doctor Dee