Quotes from Ross Poldark

Winston Graham ·  455 pages

Rating: (16.8K votes)


“The greatest thing is to have someone who loves you and—and to love in return.”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark


“Autumn lingered on as if fond of its own perfection.”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark


“It isn't very pretty to have been made a fool of by one's own feelings,' he said. 'To take childish promises and build a--a castle out of them...”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark


“There were no tears in her. The wound went too deep, or she was not so constituted to give way to it. Hers would be the perpetual ache of loss and loneliness, slowly dulled with time until it became a part of her character, a faint sourness tinged with withered pride.”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark


“And Ross again knew himself to be happy-in a new and less ephemeral way than before. He was filled with a queer sense of enlightnment. It seemed to him that all his life had moved to this pinpoint of time down the scattered threads of twenty years; from his old childhood running thoughtless and barefoot in the sun on Hendrawna sands, from Demelza's birth in the squarlor of a mining cottage, from the plains of Virginia and the trampled fairgrounds of Redruth, from the complex impulses which had governed Elizabeth's choice of Francis and from the simple philosophies of Demelza's own faith, all had been animated to a common end-and that end a moment of enlightenment and understanding and completion. Someone--a Latin poet--had defined eternity as no more than this: to hold and possess the whole fullness of life in one moment, here and now, past and present and to come. He thought: if we could only stop here. Not when we get home, not leaving Trenwith, but here, here reaching the top of the hill out of Sawle, dusk wiping out the edges of the land and Demelza walking and humming at my side.”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark



“The case is closed, Mr. Poldark. You will kindly step down.” “Otherwise,” said Dr. Halse, “we will have you committed for contempt of court.” Ross bowed slightly. “I can only assure you, sir, that such a committal would be a reading of my inmost thoughts.”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark


“At that, his smile faded and he kissed her. “Ross,” she said. “Dear Ross.” “I love you,” he said, “and am your servant. Demelza, look at me. If I’ve done wrong in the past, give me leave to make amends.” So he found that what he had half despised was not despicable, that what had been for him the satisfaction of an appetite, a pleasant but commonplace adventure in disappointment, owned wayward and elusive depths he had not known before, and carried the knowledge of beauty in its heart.”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark


“Since I met you,' he said, 'I've had no eyes and no thought for any other girl. When I was away nothing mattered about my coming back but this. If there was one thing I was sure of, it wasn't what I'd been taught by anyone else to believe, not what I learned from other people was the truth, but the truth that I felt in myself- about you.'

'Don't say any more.' She had gone very white. But for once her frailness did not stop him. It had to come out now.

'It isn't very pretty to have been made a fool of by one's own feelings,' he said. 'To take childish promises and build a-a castle out of them. And yet- even now sometimes I can't believe that all the things we said to each other were so trivial or so immature. Are you sure you felt so little for me as you pretend?”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark


“I said to myself, ‘He has done this and he has paid for it. Isn’t that enough? Is a man to be condemned forever? Why do I go to church and repeat the Lord’s Prayer if I don’t hold to it, if there is no forgiveness? Is our own behavior higher than the founder of Christianity, that we should set a higher standard for others?”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark


“His was not an easy face to read, and no one could have told that in the past half hour he had suffered the worst knock of his life. Except that he no longer whistled into the wind or talked to his irritable mare, there was nothing to show.”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark



“Instead, the room, which had seen her grow to maturity, would see her dry up and fade. The gilt mirror in the corner would bear its dispassionate testimony. All the ornaments and furnishings would be her companions through the years to come. And she realized that she would come to hate them, if she didn’t already hate them, as one hates the witnesses of one’s humiliation and futility.”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark


“When a person is as happy as she was that summer, it is hard for others to be unaffected, and after a time the atmosphere she created began to have its effect on all in the house.”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark


“The book from which you take your teaching, Dr. Halse, says that man shall not live by bread alone. These days you’re asking men to live without even bread.”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark


“Demelza thought: She's one day too late, just one day. How beautiful she is; how I hate her. Then she glanced at Ross again, and for the first time like the stab of a treacherous knife it occurred to her that Ross's desire for her last night was a flicker for empty passion. All day she had been too preoccupied with her own feelings to spare time for his. Now she could see so much in his eyes.”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark


“The waves were shadows, snakes under a quilt, creeping in almost unseen until they emerged in milky ripples at the water’s edge.”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark



“common end—and that end a moment of enlightenment and understanding and completion. Someone—a Latin poet—had defined eternity as no more than this: to hold and possess the whole fullness of life in one moment, there and then, past and present and to come. He thought, If we could only stop life for a while I would stop here. Not when I get home, not leaving Trenwith, but here, here reaching the top of the hill out of Sawle, dusk wiping out the edges of the land and Demelza walking and humming at my side.”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark


“Life seemed to be teaching him that the satisfaction of most appetites carried in them the seeds of frustration, that it was the common delusion of all men to imagine otherwise.”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark


“Tedn't law. Tedn't right. Tedn't just. Tedn't sense. Tedn't friendly.”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark


“Hers would be the perpetual ache of loss and loneliness, slowly dulled with time until it became a part of her character, a faint sourness tinged with withered pride.”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark


“That’s all that matters. The greatest thing is to have someone who loves you and—and to love in return. People who haven’t got it—or had it—don’t believe that, but it’s the truth.”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark



“Ross took a deep breath of the air, which was heavy with the smell of sea. He fancied he could hear the waves breaking.”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark


“He felt he would like one more look at the sea, which even now was licking at the rocks behind the house. He had no sentimental notions about the sea; he had no regard for its dangers or its beauties; to him it was a close acquaintance whose every virtue and failing, every smile and tantrum he had come to understand.”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark


“Ross stared a moment at the piece of flotsam he had brought home and hoped to salvage. She was standing there in her ragged shirt and three-quarter-length breeches, her matted hair over her face and the dirty half-starved puppy at her feet. She stood with one toe turned in and both hands loosely behind her back, staring across at the library. He hardened his heart. Tomorrow would not do.”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark


“I think you must have your feelings under a very good control. You turn them about and face them the way you want them to be. I wish I could do that. What’s the secret?”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark


“I'm afraid they would droop. See, they're drooping already. Bluebells are like that.”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark



“His hands touched the cool skin of her back, Abruptly they slipped inside her frock and closed about her waist. She leaned her head back against his shoulder and he kissed her until the room went dark before her eyes.”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark


“If every one of you was to clean before his own front door, all would be clean of cow flops.”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark


“Someone— a Latin poet— had defined eternity as no more than this: to hold and possess the whole fullness of life in one moment, there and then, past and present and to come.”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark


“I've interrupted a party. Is it in celebration of the peace or in honor of the next war?”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark


“Otherwise,” said Dr. Halse, “we will have you committed for contempt of court.” Ross bowed slightly. “I can only assure you, sir, that such a committal would be a reading of my inmost thoughts.”
― Winston Graham, quote from Ross Poldark



About the author

Winston Graham
Born place: in Manchester, The United Kingdom
Born date June 30, 1908
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“I thought the war was a simple matter, with one side good and the other evil. But the more I read, the less clear it was.”
― Lemony Snicket, quote from When Did You See Her Last?


“Is it fair to call The Princess Bride a classic? The storybook story about pirates and princesses, giants and wizards, Cliffs of Insanity and Rodents of Unusual Size? It's certainly one of the most often quoted films in cinema history, with lines like:
"Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."
"Inconceivable?"
"Anybody want a peanut?"
"Have fun storming the castle."
"Never get involved in a land war in Asia."
"Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something."
"Rest well, and dream of large women."
"I hate for people to die embarrassed."
"Please consider me as an alternative to suicide."
"This is true love. You think this happens every day?"
"Get used to disappointment."
"I'm not a witch. I'm your wife."
"Mawidege. That bwessed awangement."
"You seem a decent fellow. I hate to kill you."... You seem a decent fellow. I hate to die."
"Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while."
"Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line!"
"There's a shortage of perfect breasts in this world. It would be a pity to damage yours."
And of course...
"As you wish.”
― Cary Elwes, quote from As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride


“You’re very clever, aren’t you, Mr. Neyt Nash?” she said. “I came here to cry on your shoulder, to tell you about my mission against you, to tell you I helped you.”
“I am grateful for all that,” said Nate, not wanting to show how scandalously relieved he was.
Dominika could see it in his face nonetheless. “But you’re not asking me to work with you to avenge Marta, nor to get back at my uncle, or Volontov, or the rest of them, nor to try to reform my beloved country.”
“I don’t have to tell you any of that,” he said.
“Of course you don’t,” she said. “You’re too careful for that.” Nate looked at her without saying anything. “All you do is ask me what I want to do.”
“That’s right,” said Nate.
“Instead, suppose you tell me what you want me to do.”
“I think we should begin working together. Stealing secrets,” Nate said immediately, his heart in his mouth.
“For revenge, for Marta, for Rodina, for—”
“No, none of those,” interrupted Nate. Gable’s words came into his head. Dominika looked at him. His purple halo had spread like the rays of a rising sun. “Because you need it, Dominika Egorova, because it helps you feed that temper of yours, because it’ll be something you own, for once in your life.”
― Jason Matthews, quote from Red Sparrow


“But I will always be hers.”
― J.D. Horn, quote from The Void


“her love echoed through me, a wordless melody that held my heart through time and distance.”
― Meredith Wild, quote from Hardwired


Interesting books

The Grimm Legacy
(14K)
The Grimm Legacy
by Polly Shulman
Black Powder War
(22.7K)
Black Powder War
by Naomi Novik
Love, Come to Me
(3.8K)
Love, Come to Me
by Lisa Kleypas
Revealing Us
(10.4K)
Revealing Us
by Lisa Renee Jones
Deathscape
(1.3K)
Deathscape
by Dana Marton
A Demon Bound
(5.3K)
A Demon Bound
by Debra Dunbar

About BookQuoters

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.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.