Quotes from Sybil Ramkin
Vimes knew that the barbarian hublander folk had legends about great chain-mailed, armour-bra’d, carthorse-riding maidens who swooped down on battlefields and carried off dead warriors on their cropper to a glorious roistering afterlife, while singing in a pleasing mezzo-soprano. Lady Ramkin could have been one of them. She could have led them. She could have carried off a battalion. (GG)
For a moment the rank felt as though they had just returned from single-handedly conquering a distant province. They felt, in fact, tremendously bucked-up, which was how Lady Ramkin would almost certainly have put it and which was definitely several letters of the alphabet away from how they normally felt. (GG)
'I should have thought you'd be all for kings.'
'Some of them were fearful oiks, you know,' she said airily. 'Wives all over the place, and chopping people's heads off, fighting pointless wars, eating with their knife, chucking half-eaten chicken legs over their shoulders, that sort of thing. Not our sort of people at all.' (GG)
She smiled at him.
And then it arose and struck Vimes that, in her own special category, she was quite beautiful; this was the category of all the women, in his entire life, who had ever thought he was worth smiling at. She couldn’t do worse, but then, he couldn’t do better. So maybe it balanced out. She wasn’t getting any younger but then, who was? And she had style and money and common-sense and self-assurance and all the things that he didn’t, and
she had opened her heart, and if you let her she could engulf you; the woman was a city.
And eventually, under siege, you did what Ankh-Morpork had always done – unbar the gates, let the conquerors in, and make them your own. (GG)
Downstairs, Sybil had cooked him a meal. She wasn’t a very good cook. This was fine by Vimes, because he wasn’t a very good eater. (J)
There was a gentle snore from Lady Sybil. A marriage is always made up of two people who are prepared to swear that only the other one snores. (FE)
...Sam Vimes had learned a lot from watching Lady Sybil. She didn’t mean to act like that, but she’d been born to it, into a class that had always behaved this
way: you went through the world as if there was no possibility that anyone would stop you or question you, and most of the time that’s exactly what didn’t happen. (FE)
'You’ll be upholding the honour of Ankh-Morpork, remember!’
‘Really, dear? What shall I do with the other hand?’ said Vimes ... (Th)
'She used to say that a girl who knew how to use a set square and protractor would go a long way in life.' (Th)
Sybil's female forebears had valiantly backed up their husbands as distant embassies were besieged, had given birth on a camel or in the shade of a stricken elephant, had handed around the little gold chocolates while trolls were trying to break into the compound, or had merely stayed at home and nursed such bits of husbands and sons as made it back from endless little wars. The result was a species of woman who, when duty called, turned into solid steel. (Th)
'Ramkins have never run away from anything’ Sybil declared.
‘Vimeses have run like hell all the time,’ said Vimes, too diplomatic to mention the aforesaid ancestors who came home in pieces. ‘That means you fight where
you want to fight.' (Th)
'My gods, man, you’re covered in blood!’ Sybil burst out.
‘Yes, your ladyship,’ said Willikins smoothly. ‘May I say in mitigation that it is not, in fact, mine.' (Th)
There was no point in arguing with Sybil, because even if you thought you’d won, it would turn out, by some magic unavailable to husbands, that you had, in fact, been totally misinformed. (Sn)
Regrettably Sybil was right. At his age you had to be sensible. You sometimes had to catch your breath, while you still had some. (Sn)
‘… the worst thing you can do is nothing.’ (Sn)
For a moment the rank felt as though they had just returned from single-handedly conquering a distant province. They felt, in fact, tremendously bucked-up, which was how Lady Ramkin would almost certainly have put it and which was definitely several letters of the alphabet away from how they normally felt. (GG)
'I should have thought you'd be all for kings.'
'Some of them were fearful oiks, you know,' she said airily. 'Wives all over the place, and chopping people's heads off, fighting pointless wars, eating with their knife, chucking half-eaten chicken legs over their shoulders, that sort of thing. Not our sort of people at all.' (GG)
She smiled at him.
And then it arose and struck Vimes that, in her own special category, she was quite beautiful; this was the category of all the women, in his entire life, who had ever thought he was worth smiling at. She couldn’t do worse, but then, he couldn’t do better. So maybe it balanced out. She wasn’t getting any younger but then, who was? And she had style and money and common-sense and self-assurance and all the things that he didn’t, and
she had opened her heart, and if you let her she could engulf you; the woman was a city.
And eventually, under siege, you did what Ankh-Morpork had always done – unbar the gates, let the conquerors in, and make them your own. (GG)
Downstairs, Sybil had cooked him a meal. She wasn’t a very good cook. This was fine by Vimes, because he wasn’t a very good eater. (J)
There was a gentle snore from Lady Sybil. A marriage is always made up of two people who are prepared to swear that only the other one snores. (FE)
...Sam Vimes had learned a lot from watching Lady Sybil. She didn’t mean to act like that, but she’d been born to it, into a class that had always behaved this
way: you went through the world as if there was no possibility that anyone would stop you or question you, and most of the time that’s exactly what didn’t happen. (FE)
'You’ll be upholding the honour of Ankh-Morpork, remember!’
‘Really, dear? What shall I do with the other hand?’ said Vimes ... (Th)
'She used to say that a girl who knew how to use a set square and protractor would go a long way in life.' (Th)
Sybil's female forebears had valiantly backed up their husbands as distant embassies were besieged, had given birth on a camel or in the shade of a stricken elephant, had handed around the little gold chocolates while trolls were trying to break into the compound, or had merely stayed at home and nursed such bits of husbands and sons as made it back from endless little wars. The result was a species of woman who, when duty called, turned into solid steel. (Th)
'Ramkins have never run away from anything’ Sybil declared.
‘Vimeses have run like hell all the time,’ said Vimes, too diplomatic to mention the aforesaid ancestors who came home in pieces. ‘That means you fight where
you want to fight.' (Th)
'My gods, man, you’re covered in blood!’ Sybil burst out.
‘Yes, your ladyship,’ said Willikins smoothly. ‘May I say in mitigation that it is not, in fact, mine.' (Th)
There was no point in arguing with Sybil, because even if you thought you’d won, it would turn out, by some magic unavailable to husbands, that you had, in fact, been totally misinformed. (Sn)
Regrettably Sybil was right. At his age you had to be sensible. You sometimes had to catch your breath, while you still had some. (Sn)
‘… the worst thing you can do is nothing.’ (Sn)