Rosemary Sutcliff

“Always, in these times, I am wretched save when sleep comes to me. Therefore, I have come to look upon sleep as…

— Rosemary Sutcliff

“See now, for a good blade, one that will not betray the man in battle, rods of hard and soft iron must…

— Rosemary Sutcliff

“So Aquila took his father’s service upon him. It wasn’t as good as love; it wasn’t as good as hate; but it…

— Rosemary Sutcliff

“Who so pulleth out this sword from this stone and anvil is trueborn King of all Britain.”

— Rosemary Sutcliff

But tonight, because Rome had fallen and Felix was dead, because of Valerius’s shame, the empty hut seemed horribly lonely, and there…

— Rosemary Sutcliff

Esca tossed the slender papyrus roll onto the cot, and set his own hands over Marcus's. "I have not served the Centurion…

— Rosemary Sutcliff

...extraordinarily beautiful, and slightly out of focus.

— Rosemary Sutcliff

“The gilded wreaths and crowns that the Legion had won in the days of its honour were gone from the crimson-bound staff;…

— Rosemary Sutcliff

Better to be a laughing-stock than lose the fort for fear of being one.

— Rosemary Sutcliff

“Let you sing of us all by name, that we may live as long as the song." "All three hundred of you?"…

— Rosemary Sutcliff

“That is our Shield Ring, our last stronghold; not the barrier fells and the totter-moss between, but something in the hearts of…

— Rosemary Sutcliff

“Before he left Rome, Marcus had been in a fair way to becoming a charioteer, in Cradoc's sense of the word, and…

— Rosemary Sutcliff

“And out of Tristan's heart there grew a hazel tree, and out of Iseult's a honeysuckle, and they arched together and clung…

— Rosemary Sutcliff

“I have provided a possible explanation for Antiochus's insane foolhardiness when left in command of the Athenian Fleet, because Thucidides's bald account…

— Rosemary Sutcliff

“It is very hot tonight," Justin said, and loosed the folds of his light cloak, revealing the sprig of rye-grass thrust through…

— Rosemary Sutcliff

“For a moment they stood looking at each other in the firelight, while the old harper still fingered the shining strings and…

— Rosemary Sutcliff

The young Centurion, who had been completely still throughout, said very softly, as though to himself, "Greater love hath no man--" and…

— Rosemary Sutcliff

“I simply--don't know," Flavius said, and then suddenly explosive: "I don't know and I don't care! Go to bed.”

— Rosemary Sutcliff

“Every harper plays upon his hearers as he does upon the strings of his harp. It is so that the music comes,…

— Rosemary Sutcliff

“Here is one with a gift for loving and a gift for hating, and when he hates, God help the man who…

— Rosemary Sutcliff

It may be that the night will close over us in the end, but I believe that morning will come again. Morning…

— Rosemary Sutcliff

“Quietness rose within Aquila, easing his wild unrest as the salve was cooling the smart of his gashed side. But that was…

— Rosemary Sutcliff

And it came to Marcus suddenly that slaves very seldom whistled. They might sing, if they felt like it or if the…

— Rosemary Sutcliff

“The shining light of Logres shone as high and clear as ever, but as a candle flares before it gutters out.”

— Rosemary Sutcliff

We shall have made such a blaze that men will remember us on the other side or the dark.

— Rosemary Sutcliff