Quotes Database

«The superstition was that disability of any sort was the mark of the devil. The phrases are in languages throughout Europe: the devil's hoof, the devil's horn mark. It reaches back to early Christianity and the middle ages. Where a child was born out of wedlock, the church cooked up the impression that you'd done something sinful, and something dreadful would result. You will still find, particularly in Greece, people doing a little sign when they see a very badly disabled child ? it needs warding off.»

«[The trains were never forgotten, but the extent of their influence only came to light with the arrival of the internet and the subsequent flowering of genealogical research. This obsession with roots will be felt especially keenly by foundlings, who often have no way of exploring their family histories.] I notice that genealogical sites now have warnings on them saying people should be ready for little surprises, ... They're not all going to find themselves descended from King Henry VIII or Richard Cur de Lion or Wellington. This is rather strange because it was pretty taken for granted a few generations ago that families had all kinds of little moments where things had gone not according to the book. It was just one of those things. You tried to accommodate it. There was no social welfare. You just had to sort it out within villages, the families, the parish. Children went to the workhouse, but people knew about it. Nowadays, there's a kind of surprise that these cases were so commonplace.»

«[Maybe she simply cared in a self-protective way.] Doing something on impulse, ... well, it can work, but there are a lot of examples that say, 'Better to leave well alone and do what you can as a reporter.' You do get into situations where you think, 'What should I do? Shouldn't I intervene? Shouldn't I do something?' I think if you get to that point you have to make a decision. I've said to people, if you feel it's wrong just being a reporter and you can't do enough, well it's time to become an aid worker and train to be someone who really knows what to do. No good standing around snapping a notebook.»

«[it's strange to think of yourself as an only child and then suddenly find yourself with three siblings. Does Adie ever feel like an outsider when the rest share a history that she doesn't?] Curiously, I went to a wedding quite near the start, and when we got to the church this charming man came up and said, 'Bride or groom?' ... Groom! You're with the groom!»

«Having had loving people who brought me up, and then I find another set of people. That really is a double blessing.»

«Trying to be as positive as he could about it, he said to me, 'I have to tell you, Kate ? it was a Harrods bag'.»

«Somewhere in the twentieth century we stopped regarding children as property and started seeing them as people.»

«Historians say this will lead to civil conflict. It doesn't lead to girls being treasured. It leads to them being traded as commodities and stolen.»

«[There is an odd grammar in that sentence, which seems wrong, but is actually precise.] Close siblings were less common, ... It seemed.»

«Not so much deliberate as, I think, instinctive. There is a right time to go looking. Some do it when they are very young, others take a few years. That's why you should never be pressurised by other people. There's a time for everyone. A lot of things probably come together subconsciously, and we say, 'I'm going to do it now.'»