I was me, I was Flavia. And I loved myself, even if no one else did.
— Alan BradleyWhen you are at war with yourself, who is there to forgive?
— Alan BradleyWhat was the point of being a child if you didn’t at least want to grow up to be someone remarkable?
— Alan BradleyDeath is like an old whore in a bar—I’ll buy her a drink but I won’t go upstairs with her.
— Alan BradleyChemistry, I learned, is simply a matter of letting time and patience do their work.
— Alan BradleyBeing Flavia, I was, of course, most interested in how quickly the body would decompose.
— Alan BradleyI am learning to take things as they come, not to act on impulse, and to make the best of my station.
— Alan BradleyWe are changeable beings, but there’s only so much growing up one can do in a single day.
— Alan BradleyCuriosity is what separates us from the cabbages of the world.
— Alan BradleyIt’s amazing what the human mind can do, and even more amazing what it refuses to do.
— Alan BradleyThere’s a lot to be said for a close encounter with mortality.
— Alan BradleyFamily! ... So often they are like a bottle of cider that explodes in your face just when you were expecting it to quench your thirst.
— Alan BradleyThere is a fine line between innocence and ignorance, as I was soon to discover.
— Alan BradleyThe art of flattery has a built-in perjury clause.
— Alan BradleyIt is a lonely thing to be known so well and still be only trusted so little.
— Alan BradleySometimes I feel like a sorceress conjuring up the spirits of the past.
— Alan BradleyWe are all of us dreamers, but some are more practical about it than others.
— Alan BradleyI’ve learned that sometimes you have to lie. But to yourself you must always tell the truth.
— Alan BradleyIn the absence of something more interesting to ponder, it is always tempting to hypothesize the existence of evil.
— Alan BradleyJustice? I am as far from understanding it now as I ever was.
— Alan Bradley