Georgette Heyer Quotes

“A certain cynicism, born of the life she has led; a streak of strange wisdom; the wistfulness behind the gaiety; sometimes fear; and nearly always the memory of loneliness that hurts the soul.”

“His Grace was at her side, and lifted her down from the chair.
"My enfant," he said, "duchesses do not dance on chairs, nor do they call their brothers 'imbécile'."
Léonie's twinkled irrepressibly.
"I do," she said firmly.”

“I don't know how it is… but you seem to think me something wonderful, and indeed, I am not.”

“People who start a sentence with personally (and they're always women) ought to be thrown to the lions. It's a repulsive habit.”

“You're only a man! You've not our gifts! I can tell you! Why, a woman can think of a hundred different things at once, all them contradictory!”

“Do you know, I think that of all your idiosyncrasies that choke you give, when you are determined not to laugh, is the one that most enchants me.”

“You may have married her, but she is mine. Do you think I shall let you take her? She may be ten times your wife, but, by God, you shall never have her.”

“I think myself I ought to be shot for writing such nonsense…. But it's unquestionably good escapist literature and I think I should rather like it if I were sitting in an air-raid shelter or recovering from flu.”

“She decided that her wisest course would be to put him out of her mind. After reaching this conclusion she lay thinking about him until at last she fell asleep.”

“This, said Damerel wrathfully, is the second time you have walked in just as I am about to propose to your sister!”

“I can't imagine what possessed you to propose to me."
"Well that will give you something to puzzle over any time you can't sleep.”

“There isso mortifying as to fall in love with someone who does not share one's sentiments.”

“It was growing late, and though one might stand on the brink of a deep chasm of disaster, one was still obliged to dress for dinner.”

“No one could have called Mr. Standen quick-witted, but the possession of three sisters had considerably sharpened his instinct of self-preservation.”

“Do you forget that I am your sister?”
“No; I’ve never been granted the opportunity to forget it.”

“I feel an almost overwhelming interest in the methods of daylight abduction employed by the modern youth.”

“[…]my memory is reasonably good—unlike yours, dear sir!”
“Mine is erratic,” he said imperturbably. “I remember only what interests me.”

“What I mean is, like you to have everything you want. Wished it was me, that's all”

“Remind me one day to teach you how to achieve a sneer, Hugh. Yours is too pronounced, and thus but a grimace. It should be but a faint curl of the lips.”

“Well, you have the right to make a sacrifice of yourself, but I'll be damned if I'll let you sacrifice me!”

“And now I wish I hadn’t been civil, because he says he shall not despair! He is as stupid as Endymion!”
“No, no!” said Alverstoke soothingly. “Nobody could be as stupid as Endymion!”

“I comfort myself with the reflection that your wife will possibly be able to curb your desire--I admit, a natural one for the most part--to exterminate your fellows.”

“You are an atrocious person! Since the day I met you I have become steadily more depraved.”

“Randall laid his hand on Stella's, but only to remove it from his sleeve. "My precious, you really must have some regard for my clothes," he said with gentle reproach. "Much as I love you, I cannot permit you to maul this particular coat.”

“Will you marry me, vile and abominable girl that you are?

Yes, but, mind, it only to save my neck from being wrung!”

“Léonie, you will do well to consider. You are not the first woman in my life."

She smiled through her tears. "Monseigneur, I would so much rather be the last woman than the first,” she said.”

“How very awkward places we do choose in which to propose to one another!' remarked Mr. Beaumaris”

“The charm of your society, my Sparrow, lies in not knowing what you will say next – though one rapidly learns to expect the worst!”

“O God, I love you to the edge of madness, Venetia, but I'm not mad yet--not so mad that I don't know how disastrous it might be to you--to us both! You don't realize what an advantage I should be taking of your innocence!”

“My house seems remarkably full of people," he observed. "Is it possible we were expected.”

“Is it not unsupportable to be held down to a canter when you long to gallop for miles?”

“My dear girl, you don't consent to an abduction! You consent to an elopement, and I knew you wouldn't do that.”

“She succumbed to the eternal feminine passion for bargains.”

“[…]if you talk any more flummery to me, Frederica, I shall give you one of my—er—icy set-downs!”(Alverstoke)”

“… Gentlemen don't understand anything, however wise they may be.”