Diana Gabaldon Quotes

“There aren't any answers, only choices”

“Does it ever stop? The wanting you?" "Even when I've just left ye. I want you so much my chest feels tight and my fingers ache with wanting to touch ye again.”

“But I talk to you as I talk to my own soul," he said, turning me to face him. He reached up and cupped my cheek, fingers light on my temple.

"And, Sassenach," he whispered, "your face is my heart.”

“Ye werena the first lass I kissed,” he said softly. “But I swear you’ll be the last.” And he bent his head to my upturned face.”

“Ye are Blood of my Blood, and Bone of my Bone,
I give ye my Body, that we Two might be One.
I give ye my Spirit, 'til our Life shall be Done.”

“For where all love is, the speaking is unnecessary”

“I kissed his cheek, damp and salty. I could feel his heart beating against my ribs, and wanted nothing more than to stay there forever, not moving, not making love, just breathing the same air.”

“Your face is my heart Sassenach, and the love of you is my soul”

“If I die before I say 'I love you' it's because I didn't have the time.”

“Oh, Claire, ye do break my heart wi' loving you.”

“D'ye ken that the only time I am without pain is in your bed, Sassenach? When I take ye, when I lie in your arms-my wounds are healed, then, my scars forgotten.”

“Between hell now, and hell later, Sassenach," he said, his speech measured and precise, "I will take later, every time.”

“Not for the first time, I reflected that intimacy and romance are not synonymous.”

“It was in a way a comforting idea; if there was all the time in the world, then the happenings of a given moment became less important.”

“When the day shall come, that we do part," he said softly, and turned to look at me, "if my last words are not 'I love you'—ye'll ken it was because I didna have time.”

“Oh, aye, Sassenach. I am your master… and you're mine. Seems I canna possess your soul without losing my own.”

“No matter how ugly the manner in which a man dies, it’s only the presence of a suffering human soul that is horrifying, once gone, what is left is only an object.”

“If I die," he whispered in the dark, "dinna follow me. The bairns will need ye. Stay for them. I can wait.”

“He turned his head to look full at me, his hair fire-struck with the setting sun, face dark in silhouette. "Twenty-four years ago today, I married ye, Sassenach," he said softly. "I hope ye willna have cause yet to regret it." -Jamie Fraser”

“It has always been forever, for me, Sassenach,” he said simply.”

“Forgiveness is not a single act, but a matter of constant practice.”

“Do ye not understand?"he said, in near desparation. "I would lay the world at your feet, Claire-and I have nothing to give ye!"
He honestly thought it mattered.”

“Sometimes our best action result in things that are most regrettable.”

“To see the years touch ye gives me joy", he whispered, "for it means that ye live.”

“I stood still, vision blurring, and in that moment, I heard my heart break. It was a small, clean sound, like the snapping of a flower's stem.”

“Don't be afraid. There's the two of us now.”

“Blood of my Blood," he whispered, "and bone of my bone. You carry me within ye, Claire, and ye canna leave me now, no matter what happens, You are mine, always, if ye will it or no, if ye want me or nay. Mine, and I wilna let ye go.”

“You're tearin' my guts out, Claire.”

“Where did you learn to kiss like that?” I said, a little breathless. He grinned and pulled me close again.

“I said I was a virgin, not a monk,” he said, kissing me again. “If I find I need guidance, I’ll ask.”

“You are safe," he said firmly. "You have my name and my family, my clan, and if necessary, the protection of my body as well. The man willna lay hands on ye again, while I live.”

“D'ye think I don't know?" he asked softly. "It's me that has the easy part now. For if ye feel for me as I do for you-then I'm asking you to tear out your heart and live without it.”

“You are mine, always, if ye will it or no, if ye want me or nay. Mine, and I willna let ye go”

“If it was a sin for you to choose me… then I would go to the Devil himself and bless him for tempting ye to it.”

“I swore an oath before the altar of God to protect this woman. And if you're tellin' me that ye consider your own authority to be greater than that of the Almighty, then I must inform ye that I'm not of that opinion, myself.”

“Then let amourous kisses dwell
On our lips, begin and tell
A Thousand and a Hundred score
A Hundred and a Thousand more”

“A hedgehog? And just how does a hedgehog make love?" he demanded.

No, I thought. I won't. I will not. But I did. "Very carefully," I replied, giggling helplessly. So now we know just how old that one is, I thought.”

“Catholics don't believe in divorce. Webelieve in murder. There's always Confession, after all.
--Brianna Fraser to Roger MacKenzie”

“… sitting and waiting is one of the most miserable occupations known to man - not that it usually is known to men; women do it much more often.”

“Lord, ye gave me a rare woman, and God! I loved her well.”

“And if your life is a suitable exchange for my honor, why is my honor not a suitable exchange for your life?”

“Once you've chosen a man, don't try to change him', I wrote with more confidence. 'It can't be done. More important-don't let him try to change you.”

“Damn right I begrudge! I grudge every memory of yours that doesna hold me, and every tear ye've shed for another, and every second you've spent in another man's bed!”

“It wasn't a thing I had consciously missed, but having it now reminded me of the joy of it; that drowsy intimacy in which a man's body is accessible to you as your own, the strange shapes and textures of it like a sudden extension of your own limbs.”

“You dinna need to understand me, Sassenach," he said quietly. "So long as you love me.”

“Why, what's the matter wi' the poor child?" she demanded of Jamie. "Has she had an accident o' some sort?"

"No, it's only she's married me," he said, "though if ye care to call it an accident, ye may.”

“This is our time. Until that time stops - for one of us, for both – it is our time. Now. Will you waste it, because you are afraid?”

“Character, I think, is the single most important thing in fiction. You might read a book once for its interesting plot—but not twice.”

“For so many years, for so long, I have been so many things, so many different men. But here," he said, so softly I could barely hear him, "here in the dark, with you… I have no name.”

“Mo Nighean donn," he whispered," mo chridhe. My brown lass, my heart."
Come to me. Cover me. Shelter me. a bhean, heal me. Burn with me, as I burn for you.”

“The most irritating thing about cliches, I decided, was how frequently they were true.”

“Gentle he would be, denied he would not.”

“An Englishman thinks a hundred miles is a long way; and American thinks a hundred years is a long time”

“All right you bloody Scottish bastard, lets see how stubborn you really are.”

“No wonder he was so good with horses, I thought blearily, feeling his fingers rubbing gently behind my ears, listening to the soothing, incomprehensible speech. If I were a horse, I’d let him ride me anywhere.”

“That's what marriage is good for; it makes a sacrament out of things ye'd otherwise have to confess. Jamie Fraser”

“Only you," he said, so softly I could barely hear him. "To worship ye with my body, give ye all the service of my hands. To give ye my name, and all my heart and soul with it. Only you. Because ye will not let me lie--and yet ye love me.”

“Then kiss me, Claire," he whispered, "And know that you are more to me than life, and I have no regret.”

“It was a beautiful bright autumn day, with air like cider and a sky so blue you could drown in it.”

“Overall, the library held a hushed exultation, as though the cherished volumes were all singing soundlessly within their covers.”

“For if you feel for me as i do for you - then I am asking you to tear out your heart and live without it.”

“You'll lie wi' me now," he said quietly. "And I shall use ye as I must. And if you'll have your revenge for it, then take it and welcome, for my soul is yours, in all the black corners of it.”

“Could I but lay my head in your lap, lass. Feel your hand on me, and sleep wi' the scent of you in my bed.

Christ, Sassenach. I need ye.”

“While the Lord might insist that vengeance was His, no male Highlander of my acquaintance had ever thought it right that the Lord should be left to handle such things without assistance.”

“We have nothing now between us, save - respect, perhaps. And I think that respect has maybe room for secrets, but not for lies.”

“I gave you justice, it said, as I was taught it. And I gave you mercy, too, so far as I could. While I could not spare you pain and humiliation, I make you a gift of my own pains and humiliations, that yours might be easier to bear.”

“He gave you to me," she said, so low I could hardly hear her. "Now I have to give you back to him, Mama.”