Julia Quinn citations

Page 3

“Mother,” Hyacinth said with a great show of solicitude,
“you know I love you dearly—”
“Why is it,” Violet pondered, “that I have come to expect
nothing good when I hear a sentence beginning in
that manner?”

“You are not going to waltz in here and distract me with a clever phrase and a beguiling smile."
"You think my smile is beguiling?”

“I'm leaving!" she said, with, in her opinion, great drama and resolve.
But he just answered her with a sly half smile, and said, "I'm following."
And the bloody man remained two strides behind her the entire way home.”

“Everyone has secrets.
Especially me.”

“Watch over Honoria, will you? See that she doesn’t marry an idiot.”

“sometimes there are reasons for our fears that we can’t
quite explain. Sometimes it’s just something we feel in our bones, something we know to be true, but
would sound foolish to anyone else.”

“Reformed rakes make the best husbands,"Violet said.
"Rubbish and you know it."

-Anthony to Violet”

“No man of any intelligence would pretend to know a female mind.”

“You are always looking at people like this.” And then she made a face, one he couldn’t possibly begin to describe.
“If I ever look like that,” he said dryly, “precisely like that, to be more precise, I give you leave to shoot me.”

“But when Anthony kissed her, she felt as
if she were losing her mind. And when he
kissed her twice, she wasn't even sure if she wanted it back!”

“No. really, what was the point? She could hardly top Version Fifteen, which had featured both vivisection and wild boar.”

“Don’t tell me your name. It’s likely to awaken my conscience, and that’s the last thing we want.”

“Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Cousin‟s Wife.
Moses must have forgotten to write that one down”

“And I hope you will not think me foolish when I also extend my thanks.

Thank you, Michael, for letting my son love her first.

—from Janet Stirling, dowager Countess of Kilmartin, to Michael Stirling, Earl of Kilmartin”

“Every unmarried man is looking for a wife. They just don't always know it.”

“I won’t be satisfied with anything less than everything”

“I had to do something," she said. "I couldn't just sit and wait for life to happen to me any longer.”

“If you cannot recognize the problem, there is no way that I could explain it to you."
He laughed, damn the man. "My goodness," he said, "that was an expert sidestep.”

“I don't like your tone," was Violet's standard answer when one of her children was winning an argument.”

“It was a damned good thing men couldn’t have children. Gregory took no shame in admitting that the
human race would have died out generations earlier.”

“Don't settle. Know what you want and reach for it. And if you don't know what you want, be patient.
The answers will
come to you in time, and you may find that your heart s desire has been right under your nose all the
while.”

“Miss. My. Wife.”

“There were only so many ways a man‟s heart could break, and he had a feeling his couldn‟t survive another puncture.”

“I was told once that the most important part of a fight is making sure your opponent looks worse than you do when you’re through.”

“Oh, very well, do you want to know why I really think you should keep a journal?"
She nodded.
"Because someday you're going to grow into yourself, and you will be as beautiful as you already are smart.”

“Besides," he said breezily, "were it not for misunderstandings, we would be sadly lacking in great literature."
She looked at him questioningly.
"Where would Romeo and Juliet be?"
"Alive.”

“He looks like a man.'

'How descriptive,' Susan said in a droll tone. 'Remind me never to advise you to seek work as a novelist.”

“Heartache, Daphne eventually learned, never really went away; it just dulled. The sharp, stabbing pain that one felt with each breath eventually gave way to a blunter, lower ache—the kind that one could almost—but never quite—ignore.”

“… I do not tell you often enough, dear Mother, how very grateful I am that I am yours. It is a rare parent
who would offer a child such latitude and understanding. It is an even rarer one who calls a daughter
friend. I do love you, dear Mama.”