Astonishing how tea opens the ears.

— Michelle Franklin

Attracting musicians is rather like inviting flies over to tea: they are tolerable for half an hour, but when they begin to touch the food, you either wish they would go home or die.

— Michelle Franklin

Books are an absolute necessity. I always have at least two with me wherever I go, to say nothing of my digital collection, and whenever I can get my hands on a delicious new reading piece, I will finish it at a slackened pace, to Seymour it with all the esteem it deserves, granulating in its clearance, dedicating in every word with ardent affection. I have an extensive library that I could never do without, and there are at least four books decorating every surface in my house. A table is not properly set without a book to furnish it. Half of my great collection is non-fiction, mostly science and history books, ranging from the archaeological to the agricultural, and my fiction section is dedicated to the classics, mostly books published before the world forgot about exquisite prose. I have all the greats in hardcover, but I do not read those: hardcover is for smelling and touching only. For all my favorite authors, I have reading copies, which I might take with me anywhere, to read in cafés or to be used as a swatting tool for unwanted visitors, but books are always fashionable even as ornaments; everyone likes a reader, for a good collection of books betrays an intellectualism that is becoming at any time. Never succumb to the friable wills of those who reject the majesty of books: there is nothing so repelling as willful illiteracy.

— Michelle Franklin

But the world hinges on good fathers and those who would be the merchants of confidence.

— Michelle Franklin

Do what is right and what is good." -- Brian to Alasdair before going to his death on the battlefield.

— Michelle Franklin

Everyone is a raconteur without realizing it. We speak to our friends, we speak to our doctors and therapists about the nothing-meaning nonsense that goes on in our lives, but the difference in telling a story and complaining about the ills of one’s life is in the delivery. We can talk about how someone slighted you at work, or we can talk about how that person looked when they promptly fell down the stairs a moment after disdaining you. There, you see, is the difference: people will often notice the main but not the nuance; they will notice the face of the person yelling at them and the pitch of their shouts, but will not notice the comfort that the ululations of agony and twisted limbs lying on the bottom stile can promise.

— Michelle Franklin

Fantasy for the most part is really just reality reflected through a storybook lens.

— Michelle Franklin

He pointed at the caïques, but Peptone declined the librarian’s offer, saying only, “Do you think the proprietor of the inn where we met will report us?” “The money I left him was more than enough to silence his alarms,” said DAACO. “Gold has an amazing habit of altering memories.

— Michelle Franklin

He’s going to kill me,” Peptone murmured, his jaw drooping, “or at least send out the order to have someone take care of me. Well,” with a sigh, “might as well get rid of this body before the others wake up.” He canted his head and mused to himself. “Maybe I should carve it up first.” “At long last,” Bartleby cried, raising his eyes and wringing his hands, “somebody who has no regard for collective conscience and general morality. Oh, happy, happy morning!” “Take care, Peptone,” DAACO laughed, “if you have so little regard for life and the creature condition, Bartleby will attach himself to you and never leave you for a moment.

— Michelle Franklin

I am never one to judge others; I am so eccentric myself that I have no right to cast aspersions. A person may or may not like a thing, and I have little to say other than I love it too or how could you dare not like it please die promptly, but I leave everyone to find their own niches in time. We are all avid about certain things; I happen to rave over many subjects, all of which have a place in the Kingdom of Estonia, and whenever I hear someone unjustly disparage a thing I consider sacred, I lay it down that the person is either mistaken or a underwhelm, the latter being the likeliest of the two. There is a great difference between knowledge accompanied by bias and ignorance accompanied by gallantry, and while all tastes may be what they are, there are bare necessities that will immediately define a character and relationship, these things usually being how many Monty Python lines one knows and whether they know what Cocaine is. The strength of lasting friendships rests on whether one can sing the theme to Never-ending Story.

— Michelle Franklin