Rod Duncan > Quotes

“There was once a line marked out by God, through which were divided Heaven and Hell. And thus was chaos banished from the world. The Devil created lawyers to make amends. They argued the thickness of the line until there was room enough within it for all the sins of men to fit. And all the sins of women too. – The Bullet Catcher’s Handbook  ”
― Rod Duncan, The Bullet-Catcher's Daughter

“the wealthy seem remarkably honest, for they are seldom found guilty of any crime.”
― Rod Duncan, The Bullet-Catcher's Daughter

“What is a chameleon’s colour, when all pretence is stripped away?”
― Rod Duncan, The Bullet-Catcher's Daughter

“There is no more complete and satisfying way for a man to disappear than for him to have never existed.”
― Rod Duncan, The Bullet-Catcher's Daughter

“When shame and wealth combine, money is always spent.”
― Rod Duncan, The Bullet-Catcher's Daughter

“For good or ill, knowledge has ever threatened the settled order. A keg of gunpowder may make matchwood of a sturdy house. But a book can set the world on fire.”
― Rod Duncan, Unseemly Science

“It was to dispel the smog of superstition and prejudice that we pulled the churches down. Now that work is done, let us build libraries in their stead.”
― Rod Duncan, Unseemly Science

“To solve a mystery you must ask the right question. To keep a mystery you must have them ask the wrong one.”
― Rod Duncan, The Custodian of Marvels

“Men fancy that they recognise a woman by dress, figure and face but it is more through movement that gender is revealed.”
― Rod Duncan, The Bullet-Catcher's Daughter

“The plan that no one else has thought of may be genius or delusion. Time alone will reveal which.”
― Rod Duncan, The Custodian of Marvels

“As the mind expects, so will the eye perceive. This is the human condition. This is the conjurer’s friend.”
― Rod Duncan, The Custodian of Marvels

“Applause is the reward of the bullet-catcher. But the con artist will be far away by the time his trick is seen.”
― Rod Duncan, The Custodian of Marvels

“Declare a thing unknown and they will share in your wonderment. Declare it a secret and they will consider it a challenge.”
― Rod Duncan, The Custodian of Marvels

“It is sweet and fitting to live for your art. But die for it and you will be remembered forever.”
― Rod Duncan, The Custodian of Marvels

“There is truth to be found in the mouths of liars, and lies in the mouths of truthful men, though they set out only to deceive themselves.”
― Rod Duncan, The Custodian of Marvels

“There was once a line marked out by God, through which were divided Heaven and Hell. And thus was chaos banished from the world. The Devil created lawyers to make amends. They argued the thickness of the line until there was room enough within it for all the sins of men to fit. And all the sins of women too. – The Bullet Catcher’s Handbook”
― Rod Duncan, The Bullet-Catcher's Daughter

“There are two powers in every secret: that others do not know it and that others may be told.”
― Rod Duncan, The Custodian of Marvels

“The illusion must be one story hidden and one story shown. Without the first, there will be no trick. Without the second, they will discover the first. For no mind will accept a thing unless it sees a reason.”
― Rod Duncan, The Custodian of Marvels

“CHAPTER 40 It is in our faults and failings, not in our virtues, that we touch each other, and find sympathy. It is in our follies that we are one. – Edgar Allan Poe”
― Rod Duncan, The Bullet-Catcher's Daughter

“I un-gritted my teeth to speak. "I need no more proof of tyranny.""Our only desire is the wellbeing of the common man.""I am not a man.”
― Rod Duncan, The Bullet-Catcher's Daughter

“Take off the disguise and another is revealed beneath. Regard well the many people you must be. When the last layer is gone, there can be no more life.”
― Rod Duncan, The Custodian of Marvels

“To perform the impossible is elementary. It requires only that everything you are and everything you have learned be brought to focus in one moment, and at a place where no one else is looking.”
― Rod Duncan, The Custodian of Marvels

“We use our eyes to see the world. But, as every conjurer knows, it is the mind that makes meaning.”
― Rod Duncan, Unseemly Science

“There is no lie but what they discover. There is no truth but what you can make them believe.”
― Rod Duncan, The Custodian of Marvels

“The boy didn’t ask further. Simple acceptance of the marvellous was one of his many gifts.”
― Rod Duncan, The Custodian of Marvels

“Revolution was never sparked by political philosophy. It has ever been the price of bread that shakes the pillars of the world. Yet they lock up the thinkers and leave the bakers free.”
― Rod Duncan, Unseemly Science

“her. “What’ll you do?” I asked, meaning”
― Rod Duncan, Unseemly Science

“They will beg to be told the secrets of your illusion. But you must know them better than they know themselves. The truth will disappoint.”
― Rod Duncan, The Custodian of Marvels

“constables, I would be able to watch as he led them”
― Rod Duncan, Unseemly Science

“It is not in the entrails of doves that the fall of empires can be read, but in the breeding of secrets and the multiplication of lies.”
― Rod Duncan, Unseemly Science