Competence Quotes

“I live on a ship full of outcasts, populated by society's unacceptable. And yet, here I stand, happy. And I love them all.
It is time, Primrose thought, to tender myself the same level of courtesy. Or perhaps it is time that I simply accepted that I too am one of the strange and abandoned. Appearances be damned.”
― Gail Carriger, Competence

“Footnote, tail high, led the way in that manner of cats which is one part banner-waving herald and one part attempted murder by tripping. Cats in hallways – escort meets assassination attempt.”
― Gail Carriger, Competence

“Cats liked to occupy liminal spaces: both inside and outside, both tame and wild, both yawn and meow.”
― Gail Carriger, Competence

“Yes?" Percy did not try to tame the grumpiness in his voice. He hated to be disturbed while he was reading. Of course, he was always reading, but that did not signify.”
― Gail Carriger, Competence

“You will be the death of me. But such a lovely way to go.”
― Gail Carriger, Competence

“And I need to be where other people are not for a while. Percy knew himself well enough for that.”
― Gail Carriger, Competence

“We simply must convince them that pishtacos are the latest and greatest diet scheme ever, and the local Californians will welcome them with open arms.”
― Gail Carriger, Competence

“The Ottoman Empire was a glorious time for tassels.”
― Gail Carriger, Competence

“The man was dead after all. But not powerless. Formerly Floote was many things, but powerless wasn't one of them. He had knowledge.”
― Gail Carriger, Competence

“Frankly, Percy was accustomed to offending people into near murderous rages. When someone actually tried to pot him off, it felt endearingly honest.”
― Gail Carriger, Competence

“Footnote, his cat, also liked Spoo. Therefore Spoo must be a genuinely good egg. Or possibly eat a great deal of tuna. Footnote couldn’t be trusted to be entirely discriminating.”
― Gail Carriger, Competence

“If she was lucky, the most strenuous endeavour she need undertake in any given day was the lifting of a teacup to her lips.”
― Gail Carriger, Competence

“He’d nothing intelligent to add to these details, so he said nothing. A policy he wished the world in general would obey.”
― Gail Carriger, Competence

“It is a word from Gaelic times, before our recorded history. The Fair Folk they were also called. You look much as they were described: terribly beautiful.”
― Gail Carriger, Competence

“It was best to assume that a non-tea drinker might, at any moment, develop refinement.”
― Gail Carriger, Competence

“The sun was near to rising. Percy downed the last of his drink and pondered the nature of love and manipulation and ghosts and souls, confident in his own superiority in needing none of these things to be content with his life.”
― Gail Carriger, Competence

“If Primrose had learned anything from her unusual childhood in a vampire hive, it was this: do not give untapped wealth and social influence to a woman whose greatest love in life is increasingly outrageous hats.”
― Gail Carriger, Competence

“Independent thought,” emphasised Percy, “is independent thought. We cannot control the outcome. And if we try, we risk becoming the very thing we fear and are persuading him against. Evil.”
― Gail Carriger, Competence

“Auribus teneo lupum.” “No Latin! You know I can’t abide Latin during unsustainable situations!”
― Gail Carriger, Competence

“The stars were vast and twinkling with savage cheer above them, and the sea was a vast and satin-rich bed of cruelty below. Primrose shivered at her own fancy, but there was something about the wide emptiness that terrorised. I suppose I am nothing if not a creature of cities with bustling streets and cosy hearths. This vastness is not for me. And I am not for it.”
― Gail Carriger, Competence

“Virgil to Percy: "Well, sir, no offense, but you're rather shaky with all things moral and ethical yourself."
Percy thought he ought to be even more affronted, but he found this to be more like a compliment than not. It implied that he never allowed his scientific analysis of a situation to be troubled by how the rest of the world thought it ought to be.”
― Gail Carriger, Competence

“This is the time for obscure Italian mathematicians”
― Gail Carriger, Competence