The Ravenmaster Quotes

“The black can be sooty, soily, glazed, cindery, blackboard black, kohl black, coal black, noir, schwarz, nero. I don’t know how many words and phrases there are to describe black—slate black, cast-iron black, jet black, flat-screen-TV black, ink black, burnt black, liturgical black, hell black—but the raven’s black is as various and as a dense as there are meanings and values attached to the very idea of black, black representing death, mourning, negation, sin, solemnity, the vacancy of space, and all the horrors of human terror and the exercise of power.”
― Christopher Skaife, The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London

“He was such a friendly bird. It was Thor who was perched on the wooden steps leading up to the White Tower on the occasion of the official visit by Vladimir Putin, and who greeted him with his deep bass ‘Good morning.’ He’d say hello to anybody, Thor.”
― Christopher Skaife, The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London

“I also keep a jar full of raven feathers in the storeroom, kindly donated by the ravens once a year during their molt, and which I occasionally like to distribute to deserving/well-behaved/lucky visitors. If I’m doing a Tower tour, for example, and I discover that a couple just got married or engaged, I like to give them a pair of feathers—a primary and a secondary, since without one the other is no good. I’m an old romantic at heart.”
― Christopher Skaife, The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London

“Yeoman Warder Christopher Skaife, of Her Majesty’s Royal Palace”
― Christopher Skaife, The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London

“One of the things I've learned from the ravens is that they're surprisingly like us. They're versatile, adaptable, omnivorous. They are capable of great cruelty and great kindness, and on the whole, they manage to get along with one another. In learning about the ravens, I have discovered a lot about what it means to be a human. I've learned to listen, to observe, and to be still. The ravens have been my teachers, and I have been their pupil.”
― Christopher Skaife, The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London

“To catch and capture a raven in full view of the public is a tricky business, and to be avoided if at all possible, since it requires not only a cool head and steady nerves but quite a bit of luck. My first piece of advice to anyone findig themselves in such a predicament would be to stay cool and to pretend you have total control of the situation, which you most certainly do not. Like it or not, you're about to become a star on YouTube.”
― Christopher Skaife, The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London

“A shock report in the London Evening Standard on August 23, 1995, “Treason at the Tower as Charlie kills raven,” revealed that a police sniffer dog, a springer spaniel named Charlie, killed a raven also named Charlie during a routine security check. (According to the report, no disciplinary action was taken against the dog.)”
― Christopher Skaife, The Ravenmaster: My Life with the Ravens at the Tower of London