To Each His Dulcinea

"Jerott, for God’s sake! Are you doing this for a wager?” said Lymond, his patience gone at last. “What does anyone want out of life? What kind of freak do you suppose I am? I miss books and good verse and decent talk. I miss women, to speak to, not to rape; and children, and men creating things instead of destroying them. And from the time I wake until the time I find I can’t go to sleep there is the void— the bloody void where there was no music today and none yesterday and no prospect of any tomorrow, or tomorrow, or next God-damned year."

— The Disorderly Knights (via seeminglysweet)

"‘Versatility is one of the few human traits which are universally intolerable. You may be good at Greek and good at painting and be popular. You may be good at Greek and good at sport, and be wildly popular. But try all three and you’re a mountebank. Nothing arouses suspicion quicker than genuine, all-round proficiency.’"

— Dorothy Dunnett, The Game of Kings, Vintage Books 1st ed.

(Source: fuckyeahlymond)

"You cannot love any one person adequately until you have made friends with the rest of the human race also. Adult love demands qualities which cannot be learned living in a vacuum of resentment."

— Dorothy Dunnett (via seeminglysweet)

(via fuckyeahlymond)

"However, I do believe in the dealbreaker book. This book so deeply resonates with your soul that if a potential partner finds it risible, any meeting of minds (or body) is all but impossible. Most of us have one or two books that encapsulate all we believe to be skilful and admirable in art and in life. And while we don’t necessarily expect everyone to enjoy them, we do expect our soulmate to. Or at least respect them."

—

Molly Flat, “Love Me, Love My Books” (via moviesandmusicandbooksohmy)

Oh my God you guys I was already reblogging this for Fuck Yeah Lymond! before I even read the whole article— and then she mentions Dunnett!

(via fuckyeahlymond)

(via fuckyeahlymond)

"Remember, some live all their lives without discovering this truth; that the noblest and most terrible power we possess is the power we have, each of us, over the chance-met, the stranger, the passer-by outside your life and your kin. Speak, she said, as you would write: as if your words were letters of lead, graven there for all time, for which you must take the consequences. And take the consequences."

— Dorothy Dunnett, Queens’ Play (via delladilly)

(via fuckyeahlymond)

"Kate, my dear? Haven’t your raspberries been marvellous this year? Come and be licked; I haven’t dined yet."

— Francis Crawford of Lymond, The Disorderly Knights by Dorothy Dunnett (via inthetiredspaces)

(Source: nosey-nate)