Lindsey Davis quotes

Lindsey Davis is a British author best known for her historical mystery novels, particularly the Marcus Didius Falco series. Her works are acclaimed for their vivid depiction of ancient Rome and clever blend of humor and intrigue. She has received multiple awards for her contributions to historical fiction. Here are 62 of her quotes:

To know another person's fortune smacks of wanting to control their fate for the wrong reasons.

Lindsey Davis

Communicating wit is a lonely art. It demands an independent soul.

Lindsey Davis

This was a solitary walk where the sun and the scents of wild flowers would act on a tortured mind like a soothing drug.

Lindsey Davis

We are Romans. We despise thought.

Lindsey Davis

Senator, don't let your judgement be warped by one heady moment.

Lindsey Davis

Love and death are gritty subjects. Their appropriate handling by poets does not require myrtle petals and violets.

Lindsey Davis

Never stop to breathe the pretty flower scents. The graves of the poor still stink.

Lindsey Davis

In fact, making up a spiteful lie has become respectable. Today's "jesters" are outright public nuisances.

Lindsey Davis

To be born with nothing was grim. But to be born with everything, then to lose it, was far more cruel.

Lindsey Davis

I would rather see Rome ruled by a man who once had to ask his accountant tricky questions before his steward could pay the butcher's bill than by some mad limb like Nero, who was brought up believing himself the son and the grandson of gods, and who thought wearing the purple gave him free rein to indulge his personal vanities, execute real talent, bankrupt the Treasury, burn half of Rome – and bore the living daylights out of paying customers in theatres!

Lindsey Davis

A wise partner does not come between her man and his best friend.

Lindsey Davis

Curiosity is a terrible inducement.

Lindsey Davis

The world is full of people slandering their birthplaces, as if they really believe that small-town life is different elsewhere.

Lindsey Davis

Have any sheep been seen walking out of the Library with seagoing adventurers clinging to their wool?

Lindsey Davis

Do you kill people?' 'Not regularly. It's too much trouble making my peace with the gods afterwards.

Lindsey Davis

This was no more cynical than most lying lozenge-pushers, but when he thought it mattered, Rhoemetalces had been honest. We cannot have that. Rome is a complex, sophisticated society. Truth is distrusted as much as Greek philosophy.

Lindsey Davis

Smartness always helps in gaining access to the houses of the wealthy. Anyone with a clean face is acceptable to thugs.

Lindsey Davis

There are fortunes to be made out of bristle for a man with deft hands.

Lindsey Davis

Architectural drawings may look beautiful and be admired by critics but to be good, they have to work in daily use.

Lindsey Davis

Their work was undercover-yet their existence unconcealed. That is how fear works.

Lindsey Davis

Sometimes you run away by yourself purely so someone who cares will come to find you. Half the time nobody does. That's the tragedy of life.

Lindsey Davis

He listened with the mild demeanour of a man who had waited eight years for his town council to draw up a specification for emergency repairs.

Lindsey Davis