Andronikos

“To reach Greenland, turn left at the middle of Norway, keep so far north of Shetland that you can only see it if the visibility is very good, and far enough south of the Faroes that the sea appears half way up the mountain slopes. As for Iceland, stay so far to the south that you only see its flocks of birds and whales. So, ROUGHLY PARAPHRASED, run the navigational directions in an Icelandic manual of the Middle Ages,”
― Peter Heather, Empires and Barbarians: Migration, Development and the Birth of Europe

“God has given us the Papacy,” the thirty-seven-year-old pope is said to have written to his brother Giuliano soon after his accession, “now let us enjoy it.” The”
― John Julius Norwich, Absolute Monarchs: A History of the Papacy

“Throwing blondes at Locke Lamora was not unlike throwing lettuce at sharks.”
― Scott Lynch, The Lies of Locke Lamora

“When Sicily became part of the Kingdom of Naples, Palermo lost its capital status. It was never to regain it. It is now essentially a baroque city, beautiful though sadly dilapidated. But the setting – the Conca d’Oro or Shell of Gold – is as lovely as ever, and the Sicilian parliament still meets in King Roger’s old palace – so all, perhaps, is not lost.”
― John Julius Norwich, The Great Cities in History