“So this was betrayal. It was like being left alone in the desert at dusk without water or warmth. It left your mouth dry and will broken. It sapped your tears and made you hollow.”
“Diana knew it wouldn't be right, but then she told herself that things only looked wrong when there was someone to see you.”
“Living too much in one's head can be dangerous.”
“Things only looked wrong when there was someone to see you.”
“Good girls hold their heads high by daylight,
Their grace and their virtue soaring with kites,
While bad girls slink along in their shame-
Everyone stares at them, everyone blames.
But those bad girls sleep soundly at night,
Ne'er do their consciences wake them in a fright,
While our good girls toss and they turn-
They lay awake for those who will burn.”
“You love her," Teddy observed quietly. Henry replied with an uncharacteristic lack of irony: "Yes."
Teddy's eyes shifted to the plaster interlacing that decorated the ceiling in curlicues. "Lord, you never make it easy, do you."
"No.”
“She was a vision in a white gown her dark hair forming a hazy halo around her rosy heart-shaped face. Her long lashes fluttered to touch her cheeks and then her eyes opened fully in his direction. Her small round mouth flexed in an immediate and knowing smile. That's the girl I'm going to marry Henry thought.”
“So this is how life was, she thought with a faint smile: It wore you down until you emerged at its wildest, most unexpected ends.”
“It seemed to her as though everything that was good and true had been blasted out of the world. All those things had been crushed destroyed made to disappear.”
“Instead, he sat in the parlor of his family's Fifth Avenue mansion, growing older by the minute just like everybody else.”
“She felt so much aware of her own beauty it seemed inconceivable that everybody else wouldn't notice the difference too.”
“They will stop calling brides beautiful after today—you have simply set the standard too high,' he said.”
“That was the way love was, she guessed-it left you always unsteady on your feet.”
“The value of secrets is ever fluctuating although ladies who have been in society for a long time learn that a secret kept can be worth more than a secret told.”
“Though her emotions had not deviated from a jittery frailty she knew that in her own room she could at least attempt sleep and that if she dreamed she might then finally be with Henry.”
“Ah well that I can't tell you." Diana ducked her head so that the brim of her bonnet covered her face. "Some things must remain a mystery and for now I think I'll keep my opinion of you and your compliments to myself.”
“She had had no idea what it would do to her seeing him in a suit.”
“What did it matter anyway that she was so much lovelier than the other girls when Henry was so blind.”
“It had been too much for Edith to take and she had gone to her room so that her nieces wouldn't see her cry anymore.”
“She had rarely been near Henry since then, and the sight of him now was like a concentrated dose.”
“Recurrent memories of Henry Schoonmaker were the most exciting thing to happen in her conscious mind these days.”
“Teddy risked a look backward and nodded as he handed Henry his hat. The two men shook hands and then walked past each other Teddy moving in the direction of Henry's room and Henry the hat pulled down over his face toward the Cutting carriage that was waiting by the curb.”
“I love you.
He said it simply, quietly. He didn't say those words as she had imagined them said so many times by characters in novels. He didn't say them with desperation, with pleading, with futile rage or florid persuasion. He spoke without lasciviousness; he spoke only with the intention of being understood.”
“It was disgraceful but also romantic enough to make Lina's heart turn.”
“Property has ever been a fluid concept--just ask the wife of the Wall Street speculator who writes her party invitations on Marie Antoinette's escritoire.”
“The two men moved to either side of his shoulders, close enough that Henry smelled the smell of men who did not spend their days looking after hereditary silver.”
“She was realizing for the first time in her life what agony it was to experience such unquiet beneath an impeccable veneer.”
“but there was nothing like a little chest-beating to remind a man where his true feelings lay.”
“Myron made a skeptical face. Since the kid’s head was still down, the effort was a bit of a waste. “Look at me, Roger.” He”
“Ask any comedian, tennis player, chef. Timing is everything.”
“How can such a coward teach someone to be brave?”
“Tamar noticed that she had never met a person she felt so comfortable being silent with.”
“What else was I meant to do? Leave you to die?"
"You might've."
"I wouldn't have.”
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.