"Real children don't go hoppity-skip unless they are on drugs."
Getting an education was a bit like a communicable sexual disease. It made you unsuitable for a lot of jobs and then you had the urge to pass it on.
She'd become a governess. It was one of the few jobs a known lady could do. And she'd taken to it well. She'd sworn that if she did indeed ever find herself dancing on rooftops with chimney sweeps she'd beat herself to death with her own umbrella.
Everything starts somewhere, though many physicists disagree. But people have always been dimly aware of the problem with the start of things. They wonder how the snowplough driver gets to work, or how the makers of dictionaries look up the spelling of words.
We took pity on him because he'd lost both parents at an early age. I think that, on reflection, we should have wondered a bit more about that.
'Charity ain't giving people what you wants to give, it's giving people what they need to get.'
You only had to look into Teatime's mismatched eyes to know one thing, which was this: if Teatime wanted to find you he would not look everywhere. He'd look in only one place, which would be the place where you were hiding.
Mister Teatime had a truly brilliant mind, but it was brilliant like a fractured mirror, all marvellous facets and rainbows but, ultimately, also something that was broken.
'I'm not a thief, madam. But if I were, I would be the kind that steals fire from the gods.'
'We've already got fire.'
'There must be an upgrade by now.'
