The education that we have so far succeeded in giving to the bulk of our citizens has produced a generation of mental slatterns.
Dorothy L. SayersThe first thing that strikes the careless observer is that women are unlike men. They are 'the opposite sex' - (though why 'opposite' I do not know; what is the 'neighbouring sex'?).
Dorothy L. SayersFor we let our young men and women go out unarmed in a day when armor was never so necessary. By teaching them to read, we have left them at the mercy of the printed word. By the invention of the film and the radio, we have made certain that no aversion to reading shall secure them from the incessant battery of words, words, words. They do not know what the words mean; they do not know how to ward them off or blunt their edge or fling them back; they are prey to words in their emotions instead of being the masters of them in their intellects.
Dorothy L. SayersI say, I donโt think the human frame is very thoughtfully constructed for this sleuthhound business. If one could go on all fours, or had eyes in ones knees, it would be a lot more practicalโโฆ โWhat luck! Hereโs a deep, damp ditch on the other side, which I shall now proceed to fall into.โ A slithering crash proclaimed that he had carried out his intention.
Dorothy L. Sayers