“Her lips were drawn to his like a moth to a flame.”
― Anya Seton, quote from Dragonwyck
“He was all sin and mystery, and Miranda feared the pleasures he offered as she feared the fires of hell. Yet when she succumbed at last, it was not because her body was weak but because her mind was curious.”
― Anya Seton, quote from Dragonwyck
“Miranda looked up at him through a haze of desire, her will consumed by a fierce crackling heat, just like the dry twigs of the old woman's fire.”
― Anya Seton, quote from Dragonwyck
“Yes," Nicholas replied, in a bored voice. "The name is Dutch. Dragonwyck, meaning place of the dragon. It derives from an Indian legend about a flying serpent whose eyes were fire and whose flaming breath withered the corn."
"Heavens!" With a light laugh, Miranda asked her new employer if the red men had sent forth a champion to do battle with the dragon.
The patroon's face was dark, unsmiling. "To appease him the wise men of the tribe sacrificed a pure maiden on the rocky bluff you see above you."
Miranda's laughter died. Something in Nicholas Van Ryn's cruel, handsome features made her imagine herself in the Indian maiden's place.”
― Anya Seton, quote from Dragonwyck
“Her body consented willingly to all that her soul found most abhorrent. As Nicholas had promised, there was a hellish delight in knowing she was damned.”
― Anya Seton, quote from Dragonwyck
“He wasn't strong. He was weak. The weakest thing in the world. A man who lives only for himself”
― Anya Seton, quote from Dragonwyck
“Miranda was shocked to hear Nicholas speak of slavery in glowing terms, as an efficient agricultural system. This wasn't the South! Yet as she surveyed her employer's strong dark profile in secret from beneath her long lashes, she was forced to conclude that the role of master suited Nicholas Van Ryn perfectly. Even when she closed her eyes, the impression of cruelty and power remained. But it was herself she saw as the darky slave, stripped of her free will and trembling at her master's approach.”
― Anya Seton, quote from Dragonwyck
“God's will usually seemed to coincide with her father's, and against this partnership there was no hope of appeal.”
― Anya Seton, quote from Dragonwyck
“all cruelty and passion must burn away at last to leave behind them only pity.”
― Anya Seton, quote from Dragonwyck
“She had not, as yet, enough introspection to realize that part of his fascination for her had arisen from his unpredictability, and her conception of him as a mysterious being from a superior world who had miraculously condescended to desire her. Nor did she realize how tightly she was enmeshed by his physical attraction, a bondage woven not only from the magnetism of his body but from the very fear and pain he caused her”
― Anya Seton, quote from Dragonwyck
“How can he be so cruel to me at times—and then like this? she thought. And again her awakening perceptions gave her the answer. He would hurt her himself, take pleasure in doing so, but he would not allow her to be injured by anyone or anything else”
― Anya Seton, quote from Dragonwyck
“in that hushed hour between midnight and dawn when Morpheus’ sable hands touch the rosy finger tips of Aurora and even the fairies are slumbering on their flowery couches,”
― Anya Seton, quote from Dragonwyck
“Look, bimba—In my country we have a—how you say?—a proverb. Amare, cantare, mangiare.—Loving, singing, eating—these are God’s three gifts. You don’ need more.”
― Anya Seton, quote from Dragonwyck
“I guess every disaster, every tragedy in the world, my lad, is caused by someone’s selfishness and refusal to recognize the rights of others.”
― Anya Seton, quote from Dragonwyck
“And the night shall be filled with music, And the cares that infest the day Shall fold their tents like the Arabs, And as silently steal away.”
― Anya Seton, quote from Dragonwyck
“You’ve read some of my stuff?” he asked eagerly, adding with bitterness, “ ‘The Raven,’ I suppose. Such fame as I have appears to rest entirely on the plumage of that gloomy bird.”
― Anya Seton, quote from Dragonwyck
Anya Seton
Born place: in New York, New York, The United States
Born date January 23, 1904
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“O, it is excellent
To have a giant's strenght, but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant.”
― William Shakespeare, quote from Measure for Measure
“The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal name. The Tao is both named and nameless. As nameless it is the origin of all things; as named it is the Mother of 10,000 things. Ever desireless, one can see the mystery; ever desiring, one sees only the manifestations. And the mystery itself is the doorway to all understanding.”
― Wayne W. Dyer, quote from Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao
“While it is a truism that man has not learned much more than the sexual act, and that fire burns when you stick your hand into it, it behooves the scholar to immerse himself in the analyses of the problem, rather than the problem itself. One”
― Jim Harrison, quote from Dalva
“In the closed world of the gynaeceum, despite the gardens and parkland extending beyong the horizon, despite the insurmountable walls separating pavillions and palaces, the tangled web of our fate was inescapable. Why did these women love each other to the point of madness? Why did they loathe one another so vehemently, and why did sworn enemies feel such horror and fascination for one another? Why should furious hate become obsession, then intoxication and the very reason to live?
Because love and hate were the two heads of the demon.”
― Shan Sa, quote from Empress
“I need you like I need my heart
to pump blood through my body, like I need air to
breathe, like we need gravity. Hell, you are my
gravity. Being with you makes me feel centered and
whole, and I’m too screwed up to convince you to want
any different. I’m too selfish to push you into someone
else’s arms when I know mine may be the worst ones
for you to be in.”
I love you.”
― Rachel Van Dyken, quote from Elite
Midnight Alley
Among the Hidden
The Complete Stories
The Book of Negroes
The Fiery Heart
BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.
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