Dorothy L. Sayers Quotes

The heart and the mind, what an enigma.

Human beings can be awful, but they can also be tremendous.

Which path do you intend to take, Nell?' said the Constable, sounding very interested. 'Conformity or rebellion?' Neither one. Both ways are simple-minded - they are only for people who cannot cope with contradiction and ambiguity.

Nobody's all good or bad, and nobody's all light or dark. Every human being has so many different aspects and facets to them. And there can be something noble and something really dark and dangerous going on in a person all at the same time.

Nothing is ever simple. What do you do when you discover you like parts of the role you're trying to escape?

I'm full of contradictions.

Of course, we're all a mass of contradictions.

I am simple, complex, generous, selfish, unattractive, beautiful, lazy, and driven.

I like characters who are contradictory.

I do believe as human beings we are a great mass of contradictions.

I am a man of contradictions, I suppose.

I think people have to choose between living with contradictions or painting themselves into a corner. I have a lot of contradictions.

Being human is being a lot of things at the same time.

I am a deeply superficial person.

We are, all of us, incoherent text, and just knowing that - knowing that no matter how much you say, 'I am this' and part of you is not that - means that you can say it.

I made up my mind, but I made it up both ways.

The best ideas make you want to say 'yes' and 'no' in the same breath.

I'm definitely interested in exploring human contradictions. Contradictions are what make us human - it's what defines us as human beings. Contradictions are what make characters interesting, and I've been lucky to be presented with characters who have a lot of contradictions.

The world asks us to be quickly readable, but the thing about human beings is that we are more than one thing. We are multiple selves. We are massively contradictory.

Everybody knows someone like that: wonderful, attractive people full of passion and ideals. You envy them, but you know there's a dark side, which is brutal and cruel and violent. That dark side informs what's wonderful about them, and the passion and rage inform the darkness; they're inseparable.

Even the things we are certain about are only an illusion. We are born with a female side and a male side, and these two sides are always fighting and challenging each other. This is why anything we want to do, we have the other side of telling us not to do it, to be careful about it.

I understand and I don't understand human beings.

I feel like humans, when you're faced with decisions, you can go up and down: duality.

You walked in, laughing, tears welling confused, mingling in your throat. How can you be so many women to so many people, oh you strange girl?

How can a man be so brave and so stupid, so gentle and so cruel, so warming and so detestable -- all at the same time?