“Among bird fanciers, there’s an old saying: ‘If horse racing is the sport of kings, then pigeon racing is the sport of the common man.’”
Out of the Clouds: The Unlikely Horseman and the Unwanted Colt Who Conquered the Sport of Kings, by Linda Carroll and David Rosner
“War, thought the kaiser, was the natural order of the world, and only fools thought otherwise.”
1901, by Robert Conroy
“Dombey sat in the corner of the darkened room in the great armchair by the bedside, and Son lay tucked up warm in a little basket bedstead, carefully disposed on a low settee immediately in front of the fire and close to it, as if his constitution were analogous to that of a muffin, and it was essential to toast him brown while he was very new.”
-- Dombey and Son, by Charles Dickens
“Do you seriously think I would not be intellectually capable of writing down the story of my life if I wanted to?”
Underground in Berlin: A Young Woman’s Extraordinary Tale of Survival in the Heart of Nazi Germany, by Marie Jalowicz Simon
It was just after five thirty in the evening when a four-engine Halifax bomber lumbered off the runway of the RAF aerodrome in Brindisi.
The Ariadne Objective: The Underground War to Rescue Crete from the Nazis, by Wes Davis
“What’s two plus two?”
Project Hail Mary, by Andy Weir
“What was that?!”
Absolute Wonder Woman: The Last Amazon, by Kelly Thompson
“Among the marvels brought ashore from the ship Vittoria when she reached Spain on 6 September 1522, after having completed the first journey around the world, were five bird skins.”
Quest in Paradise, by David Attenborough.
“I hate this place!”
Gabriel, by Jean Slaughter Doty
“Opera breeds fanatics.”
Opera Wars: Inside the World of Opera and the Battles for Its Future, by Caitlin Vincent.
“From a distance it almost looked natural.”
Elysium Fire, by Alastair Reynolds
“If you’re a children’s book author (I’m a children’s book author) people will often ask you if you plan on writing a real book.”
Make Believe: On Telling Stories to Children, by Mac Barnett
Note: I am also a children’s book author, and nobody has ever asked me that.