The Toys Of Peace And Other Papers, By Saki

“It was there, among the gooseberry bushes and beneath the medlar trees, that the temptation to the perpetration of a great literary fraud came to him.”

“War is a cruelly destructive thing.”

“Luitpold Wolkenstein drank his coffee, but the flavour had somehow gone out of it.”

“There floated up to him, through the noise and bustle of the Cathedral world, a faint heart-aching message from the prisoner in the wicker cage far below.”

“‘Children with Hyacinth’s temperament don’t know better as they grow older; they merely know more.’”

“‘Intensive bear-gardening was Sir Richard’s description of the whole affair, and I don’t think he exaggerated.’”

“‘I’m afraid I lost touch with the audience rather over that remark,’ said the Sheep afterwards.”

“‘It’s too large to be ignored altogether and treated as a yard, and it’s too small to keep giraffes in.’”

“This particular scion was known by the ignominious and expressive label of Wilfrid the Snatcher.”

“‘Don’t forget the jewels. They are a detail, but details interest me.’”

“They were the sort of toys that a tired shop-assistant displays and explains at Christmas time to exclamatory parents and bored, silent children.”

“Now, the man of pigments was going to be shown a real picture, a living model of strength and comeliness."

“There are occasions when one must take one’s Fate in one’s hands. Rex took the lamp in his.”

“‘We are just so many animals stuck down on a Mappin terrace…’"

“‘I sometimes think these garden-parties are a mistake.’"

“‘A friend of mine said only the other day that he would as soon think of going into the tropics without quinine as of going on a visit without a couple of Mark Mellowkents in his kit-bag.’"

“‘The hand that rocks the cradle rocks the world, in a volcanic sense.’"

“‘In the process of recapture the birds learned a quantity of additional language which unfitted them for further service in the Suffragette cause.’"

“‘And may the Lord have mercy on the poll...’"

“‘We might be living in the Arabian Nights,’ said Miss Fritten, excitedly."