Mark

“What constitutes a problem is not the thing, or the environment where we find the thing, but the conjunction of the two; something unexpected in a usual place (our favorite aunt in our favorite poker parlor) or something usual in an unexpected place (our favorite poker in our favorite aunt). I knew that my sampler was absolutely right in Elsie Norris's front room, but absolutely wrong in Mrs. Virtue's sewing class. Mrs. Virtue should either have had the imagination to commend me for my effort in context, or the farsightedness to realize there is a debate going on as to whether something has an absolute as well as a relative value; given that, she should have given me the benefit of the doubt.
As it was, she got upset and blamed me for her headache.”
― Jeanette Winterson, Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit

“Bonner smiled. “Are you going to tell me next how when you were a kid you only got an orange for Christmas, Sarge?” O’Keefe took a sip on his coffee to hide a smile. “Cheeky bitch, I’m not that old.” “Or that fond of fruit.”
― Caimh McDonnell, Bloody Christmas

“Wang Min nodded and pointed at himself. “Statistician.” “Great,” said Bunny. “If his English was better, he could help us figure out the odds on this turning out well.”
― Caimh McDonnell, Bloody Christmas

“The Schleswig-Holstein question is so complicated, only three men in Europe have ever understood it. One was Prince Albert, who is dead. The second was a German professor who became mad. I am the third and I have forgotten all about it.”
― Lord Palmerston