Diana Gabaldon · 368 pages
Rating: (34.4K votes)
“He had crossed the room with no notion what he might say or do - he had no knowledge of the language of condolence, no skill at social small talk; his metier was business and politics. And yet, when his hostess had introduced them and left, he found himself still holding the hand he had kissed, looking into soft brown eyes that drowned his soul. And without further thought or hesitation had said, 'God help me, I am in love with you.”
― Diana Gabaldon, quote from Lord John and the Private Matter
“In defense of King, country, and family, he would unhesitatingly have sacrificed his virtue to Nessie, had that been required. If it was a question of Olivia marrying a man with syphilis and half the British army being exterminated in battle, versus himself experiencing a "personal interview" with Richard Caswell, though, he rather thought Olivia and the King had best look to their own devices.”
― Diana Gabaldon, quote from Lord John and the Private Matter
“What sort of mother talks about whores on her deathbed? Your mother wouldn’t do that, would she?"
"I have no idea,” Grey said, “The situation has fortunately not arisen.”
― Diana Gabaldon, quote from Lord John and the Private Matter
“Got to go to dinner at my brother’s house tomorrow - my sister-in-law is having Lord Worplesdon.” (Quarry)
“Steamed, boiled, or baked en croûte?” (John)”
― Diana Gabaldon, quote from Lord John and the Private Matter
“Grey sat in his bedchamber, unshaven and attired in his nightshirt, banyan, and slippers, drinking tea and debating with himself whether the authoritative benefits conferred by wearing his uniform outweighed the possible consequences - both sartorial and social - of wearing it into the slumps of London to inspect a three-day-old corpse.”
― Diana Gabaldon, quote from Lord John and the Private Matter
“Oh God. It isn’t Wednesday, is it, Hardy?” he pleaded, ascending the steps toward the footman, who smiled at sight of him, bowing as he opened the door.
"Yes, my lord. Has been all day, I’m afraid”
― Diana Gabaldon, quote from Lord John and the Private Matter
“My heart might be bruised, but it will recover and become capable of seeing beauty of life once more. It's happened before, it will happen again, I'm sure. When someone leaves, it's because someone else is about to arrive--I'll find love again.”
― Paulo Coelho, quote from The Zahir
“Nothing is the mirror in which you see the world.”
― Erich Maria Remarque, quote from Three Comrades
“And - of course! - the Non-people. The whole freaking world was full of people who were bound to tell you they weren't qualified to do this or that but they were determined to go ahead and do just that thing anyway.”
― Tom Wolfe, quote from The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
“It was as if the press in America, for all its vaunted independence, were a great colonial animal, an animal made up of countless clustered organisms responding to a central nervous system. In the late 1950's (as in the late 1970's) the animal seemed determined that in all matters of national importance the proper emotion, the seemly sentiment, the fitting moral tone, should be established and should prevail; and all information that muddied the tone and weakened the feeling should simply be thrown down the memory hole. In a later period this impulse of the animal would take the form of blazing indignation about corruption, abuses of power, and even minor ethical lapses, among public officials; here, in April of 1959, it took the form of a blazing patriotic passion for the seven test pilots who had volunteered to go into space. In either case, the animal's fundamental concern remained the same: the public, the populace, the citizenry, must be provided with the correct feelings! One might regard this animal as the consummate hypocritical Victorian gent. Sentiments that one scarcely gives a second thought to in one's private life are nevertheless insisted upon in all public utterances. (And this grave gent lives on in excellent health.)”
― Tom Wolfe, quote from The Right Stuff
“Juliette felt a wash of fear and relief, those two opposites twisting together like staircase and rail.”
― Hugh Howey, quote from Wool Omnibus
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