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Alice Thomas Ellis

Alice Thomas Ellis Biography

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“The reappraisal of a historical figure always presents a difficult problem, particularly when his history is comparatively recent, and during the intervening years other people have given their own version of his character and the events of his life -- some of them nearer to him in time than others, and those not infrequently hostile to the principles and ideas which guided him through his span on earth. The heroes of yesterday are often mocked and reviled by the rising generation, who are trying by all means to free themselves from the restraints of the past.”

HeroesThe PastEverything ChangesContext Is KeyRising Generation
Book:The Inn at the Edge of the World
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“Have you noticed my fir?' asked the professor. Jessica emerging from the sparse and anonymous forests of her imaginings, misunderstood him. Fur? Was he speaking of his own body hair? Was he perhaps a werewolf? Or was he drawing attention to some unappreciated mink, ocelot or garment of beaver? ". . . planted it years ago,' he was saying. 'Whipped off the tinsel and the gewgaws, stuck it in the garden and now it's nearly sixty feet tall.' Ah, though Jessica, reassured - a fir. She could identify Christmas trees.”

Christmas TreesMishearingListening While Distracted
Book:The Inn at the Edge of the World
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“The snag in being married to a person who knows more or less everything is that one gets hopelessly lazy. ... I never look things up in books because all I need to do is ask him, and when he gives me the answers I don't properly commit them to memory because I know if I forget all I have to do is to ask him again. It is rather like keeping one's brain in a suitcase.”

IfsKnowsNeedsGivingLooksPersonsBookAsksMemoriesAnswersForgetBrainMarriedGive MeCommitLazyLazinessBeing MarriedSuitcases
Author:Alice Thomas Ellis
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“It's when most of the guests have gone that the party really gets interesting - peering under the table and into the bath to see who's stayed and what shape they're in. It is then that those who are still conscious divulge things you had not known before: sometimes about themselves, sometimes about other people and sometimes about you. It does not necessarily make pleasant hearing but it is always fascinating. In the relaxed atmosphere, in the wake of the hubbub, they unwind and grow confidential - nay, indiscreet. If they are not already, they end up as your closest friends.”

PeopleIfsDoeStillsEndsSometimesGrowsInterestingPartyKnownGoneShapesConsciousTablesHearingAtmospherePleasantFascinatingGuestsClosestRelaxedBathsUnwindClosest FriendsConfidentialDivulge
Author:Alice Thomas Ellis
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“I like money. That is, it is my preferred means of completing pecuniary transactions. I'm not particularly keen on handing over wads of currency of the realm, but at least one knows where one is, whereas the chequebook is a snare and a delusion, containing misleading numbers of blank cheques when none of the money that the bank contains is rightfully one's own. ... I think banks owe their customers a lot by way of compensation for the aggravation they cause them.”

ThinkingKnowsWayMeanCausesNumbersCustomersRealmsDelusionCurrencyBlankCompensationMisleadAggravationTransactionsContainingSnaresCompletingChequesHanding Over
Author:Alice Thomas Ellis
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