on saying much
'I have much to say.''So have I much to say.''Well, if it comes to a duet, I'll bet I can talk louder and quicker than you, and I am willing to back this opinion with notes, cash, or lima beans.' [uncle dynamite]
on bill oakshott
'Of all my circle he is the one I would choose first to be at my side in the event of unpleasantness with an alligator. And whilte it may be argued, and with perfect justice, that the part which alligators play in the average normal married life is not a large one, it is no bad thing for a girl to have a husband capable of putting them in their place.' [uncle dynamite]
on a revelation
A girl who has been looking on the man of her choice as a pure white soul and suddenly discovers that he is about as pure and white as a stevedore's undervest does not say 'Oh, yes? Well, I must be off.' She sits rigid. She gasps. She waits for more. [uncle dynamite]
on pongo's singing
'I have heard Pongo sing on several occasions at our village concert, and it is impossible to mistake the symptoms. He sticks his chin up and throws his head back and lets it go in the direction of the ceiling at an angle of about forty-five. And very unpleasant it is, especially when the song is "Oh, My Dolores, Queen of the Eastern Sea," as too often happens.' [uncle dynamite]
on lady bostock
The dinner hour was approaching. In her room, Lady Bostock had finished dressing and was regarding herself in the mirror, wishing, not for the first time, that she looked less like a horse. It was not that she had anything specific against horses; she just wished she did not look like one. [uncle dynamite]
on times of disturbance
In times of spiritual disturbance there is nothing like a brisk mystery thriller for taking the mind off its anxieties. [uncle dynamite]
on pongo's childhood
'As for Pongo, the idea of him being old enough to contemplate marriage fills me with a perpetual astonishment. To me, he still wears sailor suits.''He must have looked sweet in a sailor suit.''No, he didn't He looked foul. like a ballet girl in a nautical musical comedy.' [uncle dynamite]
on his look
On his face was that hard, keen look which comes into the faces of policemen when they intend to do their duty pitilessly and crush a criminal like a snake beneath the heel. It was the look which Constable Potter's face wore when...he called at a house to serve a summons on somebody for moving pigs without a permit. [uncle dynamite]
on bill's response
In response to Lord Ickenham's whoop of welcome he stared dully, like a dying halibut. [uncle dynamite]
on perfect breeding
At moments, indeed, only her perfect breeding had restrained her from beating him over the head with the sock which she was knitting for the deserving poor. [uncle dynamite]
on sally's smile
A dazzling simile flashed out on Sally's face. The waiter, who was bringing chicken en casserole, caught it head-on and nearly dropped the dish. [uncle dynamite]
on how to compliment a lady
'My dear, you look like Helen of Troy after a good facial.' [uncle dynamite]
on budge street, chelsea
Budge Street, Chelsea, in the heart of London's artistic quarter, is, like so many streets in the hearts of artisitic quarters, dark, dirty, dingy, and depressing. Its residents would appear to be great readers and fond of fruit, for tattered nespapers can always be found fluttering about its sidewalks and old banana skins, cores of apples, plum stones, and squashed strawberries lying in large quantities in its gutters. Its cats are stringy, hard-boiled cats, who look as if they were contemptlating, or had just finished perpetrating, a series of murders of the more brutal type. [uncle dynamite]
on hermione bostock
Hermione was a girl whom it did not do to cross. She expected people to carry out her wishes, and those who knew what was good for them invariably did so. [uncle dynamite]
on the ideal wife
'The advice I give to every young man starting out to see a life partner is to find a girl whom he can tickle. Can you see yourself tickling Hermione Bostock? She would draw herself up to her full height and say "Sir!"' [uncle dynamite]
on american girls
'She was always trying to boss me.''Girls do. Especially American girls. I know, because I married one. It's part of their charm.' [uncle dynamite]
on publicity
Publicity was a thing from which Lord Ickenham himself had never been averse. He frankly enjoyed it. If Silver Bands and Boy Scouts had come to welcome him at a station, he would have leaped to meet them with a whoop and a holler, and would have been out taking bows almost before the train had stopped. But it was plain that this young friend of his was differently constituted, and his heart was moved by his distress. [uncle dynomite]
on seeing her again
In which event, what would the procedure be? Would he, as before, just gape and schuffle his feet? Or would he, fortified by three months in bracing Brazil, at last be able to shake off his distressing timidity and bring himself to reveal a silent passion which had been functioning uninterruptedly for some nine years? [uncle dynomite]
