56 quotes
He had the kind of personality that makes you think a boy will grow up to be a public torturer.
The Ides of April (2013)
He listened with the mild demeanour of a man who had waited eight years for his town council to draw up a specification for emergency repairs.
Shadows in Bronze (1990)
Emperors must make their own rules.
The Silver Pigs (1989)
Curiosity is a terrible inducement.
The Third Nero (2017)
The new "humour", if you can call it that, is pure malicious gossip. Instead of making a genuine point, it's now good enough to repeat any ribald story without a thought for whether it's even true.
Last Act in Palmyra (1994)
They were not beggars; well, not in the usual sense. They were Christians, who wanted not just my nephews' money but their souls.
The Third Nero (2017)
Marcus! I thought you must have been developing other interests, but I never expected to find you with your arms locked round a fish...
Venus in Copper (1991)
Some men are born lucky. Others are born Marcus Didius Falco.
The Silver Pigs (1989)
She called me a rat.”
“Oh yes, I gathered you two were very close!
Shadows in Bronze (1990)
He wore the purple; it was his entitlement. With it he had neither wreath nor jewels. For him the best adornment of rank was acute native intelligence.
Time to Depart (1995)
'Do you want a cretin or a meddler?'
'Which is better for us?'
'Whoever gets the larger backhander.'
'We won't pay. We are going for probity.'
'Can't afford true justice, eh?'
The Accusers (2003)
'How old now?'
'Thirty. Downhill to the dark boat across the Styx. Probably be sick over the side in Charon's ferry too…'
The Silver Pigs (1989)
That's the trouble with foreign travel. You spend half your time trying to find edible food, and the rest fighting off men who profess extravagant love to your female companions. I'm amazed how many women believe outright lies from foreigners.
A Body in the Bath House (2001)
Even the impetuous Helena Justina was an advocate of traditional family councils. However, every Roman matron knows that domestic councils were devised by our foremothers purely so the views of the matron of a household may prevail.
The Jupiter Myth (2002)
Petronius once told me that pathological murderers tend to start their killing sprees while they are children. Find a man who takes prostitutes off the streets as a personal vocation, and he'll probably have a set of neat jars with his childhood collection of dissected rats.
Nemesis (2010)
I like my women in a few wisps of drapery: then I can hope for a chance to remove the wisps. If they start out with nothing I tend to get depressed because either they have just stripped off for someone else or, in my line of work, they are usually dead.
The Silver Pigs (1989)