“But if you knew that, why on earth did you marry her?" Rosemary asked.
"Why?" Rhett's mouth twisted in a smile.
"Because she was so full of fire and so recklessly, stubbornly brave.Because she was such a child beneath all her pretenses.Because she was unlike any woman I had ever known. She fascinated
me,infuriated me, drove me mad. I loved her as consumingly as she loved him. From the day I first laid eyes on her. It was a kind of disease."
There was a weight of sorrow in his voice. He bowed his head into his two hands and laughed shakily. His voice was muffled and blurred by his fingers. "What a grotesque practical joke life is. Now Ashley Wilkes is a free man and would marry Scarlett on a moment's notice, and I want to be rid of her. Naturally that makes her determined to have me. She wants only what she cannot have."
Rhett raised his head. "I'm afraid," he said quietly, "afraid that it will all begin again. I know that she's heartless and completely selfish, that she's like a child who cries for a toy and then breaks it once she has it. But there are moments when she tilts her head at a certain angle, or she smiles that gleeful smile, or she suddenly looks lost-and I come close to forgetting what I know.”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“You belong with me, Scarlett, haven't you figured that out? And the world is where we belong, all of it. We're not home-and-hearth people. We're the adventurers, the buccaneers, the blockade runners. Without challenge, we're only half alive. We can go anywhere, and as long as we're together, it will belong to us. But, my pet, we'll never belong to it. That's for other people, not for us.”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“Should-haves solve nothing. It's the next thing to happen that needs thinking about.”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“If only' repeated again and again in her head like a battering ram...'if only' could break your heart.”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“But you know who you are when you're on your own out there in all that emptiness. There's no past, no holding on to the scraps that are all you've got left. Everything is that minute, or maybe tomorrow, not yesterday.”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“One of the injustices of the world was that it was so easy to make the innocent and caring ones happy with so little.”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“It's the centuries, Scarlett darling. All the life lived there, all the joy and all the sorrow, all the feasts and battles, they're in the air around and the land beneath you. It's time, years beyond our counting weighing without weight on the earth. You cannot see it or smell it or hear it or touch it, but you feel it brushing your skin and speaking without sound. Time. And mystery.”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“Rhett glanced over his shoulder as if there had been a sound. His eyes met hers, and surprise stiffened his lithe body. For a long immeasurable moment the two of them looked at each other while the space between them widened. Then blandness smoothed Rhett's face as he touched two fingers to his hat brim in salute. Scarlett lifted her hand.”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“And if things always stayed the same, Scarlett, what would be the reason for bothering to draw breath?”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“No woman can be truly beautiful who is not, also sometimes, truly ugly.”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“Everyone knew that once a woman was 30, she might as well be dead.”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“They have a saying, the French, that no woman, can be truly beautiful who is not also sometimes truly ugly.”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“But listen well. In Tir na nOg, because there is no sorrow, there is no joy.
Do you hear the meaning of the seachain's song?”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“To anyone with a drop of Irish blood in them the land they live on is like their mother. It's the only thing that lasts, that's worth working for, for fighting for...”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“The faint of lemon verbena surrounded her, floating gently from Eleanor Butler's silk gown and silken hair. It was the fragrance that had always been part of Ellen O'Hara, the scent for Scarlett of comfort, of safety, of love, of life before the War”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“How could a man know the truth of his own soul?”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“Strong people didn’t like witnesses to their weak moments.”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“Should-haves solve nothing. It's the next thing to happen that needs thinking about.”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“What a waste! What a horrible, senseless waste. When happiness was so wonderful, how could anyone cling to a love that made them unhappy?”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“I’m going to make a world for myself by my rules, not anybody else’s. Don’t worry about me. I’m going to learn to be happy.”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“I won’t think about it now, there’s nothing I can do about any of those things.”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“What was the use of love if all it did was ruin things?”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“And she understood. She would have done the same. She understood, too, why she'd been wrong to offer Ballyhara as a substitute for land he'd farmed all his life. It made all his work meaningless, and the work of his sons, his brothers, his father, his father's father.”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“What gives people whose whole life is a lie the right to judge me?”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“You don’t have to do anything, you only have to be what you are.”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“If only” could break your heart.”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“Should-haves solve nothing. It’s the next thing to happen that needs thinking about”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“Johnny Reb' laughed. 'What's it to a soldier the right and the wrong of it all? He's there for the fighting, that's what he likes. Doesn't matter who you're fighting, long as he gives you a good fight.”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“When things are at their worst, Scarlett, the only thing to do is find something to laugh about. It keeps you sane… and it stops your teeth chattering from fear.”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
“I won’t risk it again. I won’t destroy myself for you”
― Alexandra Ripley, quote from Scarlett
Alexandra Ripley
Born place: in Charleston, South Carolina, The United States
Born date January 8, 1934
See more on GoodReads
“We all make our own deals. [...] No one knows what happens in a relationship except the two people who are in it.”
― Kathy Griffin, quote from Official Book Club Selection: A Memoir According to Kathy Griffin
“Five inches! That’s awesome!” I said with jubilation. “Maybe where you come from,” BT said. “Did he just make a dick joke?” Alex asked.”
― Mark Tufo, quote from The End Has Come and Gone
“Nice pistol,” Paul said as I was looking it over, trying to figure out the cocking mechanism, safety and every other moving part. “You should give it to Deneaux.” I looked at him like he had just snorted some weed. “No, man, I’m not kidding. The lady can shoot the balls off a gnat from across the room,”
― Mark Tufo, quote from Alive In A Dead World
“But why will God not speak to me?...I think when God is silent, He wants us to prove in our hearts that we are willing to follow Him no matter the cost. If all answers were crystal-clear, how could we show our devotion to Him?”
― Jennifer Beckstrand, quote from Kate's Song
“Whoever thought up the phrase ‘Absence makes the heart grow founder’ was an idiot.
Absence makes a bitch go crazy.
-Elli, While Shea is Away”
― Toni Aleo, quote from Taking Shots
Something Like Fate
Peak
True Love Story
Wedding Night
Annihilation
Island of the Sequin...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.
