Quotes from The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse

“If the portraits of our absent friends are pleasant to us, which renew our memory of them and relieve our regret for their absence by a false and empty consolation, how much more pleasant are letters which bring us the written characters of the absent friend.”
― Héloïse d'Argenteuil, quote from The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse

“Against the disease of writing one must take special precautions, since it is a dangerous and contagious disease.”
― Héloïse d'Argenteuil, quote from The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse

“Would that thy love, beloved, had less trust in me, that it might be more anxious!”
― Héloïse d'Argenteuil, quote from The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse

“[I]t is not by being richer or more powerful that a man becomes better; one is a matter of fortune, the other of virtue. Nor should she deem herself other than venal who weds a rich man rather than a poor, and desires more things in her husband than himself. Assuredly, whomsoever this concupiscence leads into marriage deserves payment rather than affection.”
― Héloïse d'Argenteuil, quote from The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse

“God knows I never sought anything in you except yourself. I wanted simply you, nothing of yours.”
― Héloïse d'Argenteuil, quote from The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse

“[I]f the name of wife appears more sacred and more valid, sweeter to me is ever the word friend, or, if thou be not ashamed, concubine ... And thou thyself wert not wholly unmindful of that ... [as in the narrative of thy misfortunes] thou hast not disdained to set forth sundry reasons by which I tried to dissuade thee from our marriage, from an ill-starred bed; but wert silent as to many, in which I preferred love to wedlock, freedom to a bond. I call God to witness, if Augustus, ruling over the whole world, were to deem me worthy of the honour of marriage, and to confirm the whole world to me, to be ruled by me forever, dearer to me and of greater dignity would it seem to be called thy concubine than his empress.”
― Héloïse d'Argenteuil, quote from The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse

“Let me have a faithful account of all that concerns you; I would know everything, be it ever so unfortunate. Perhaps by mingling my sighs with yours I may make your sufferings less, for it is said that all sorrows divided are made lighter.”
― Héloïse d'Argenteuil, quote from The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse

“[A]s though mindful of the wife of Lot, who looked back from behind him, thou deliveredst me first to the sacred garments and monastic profession before thou gavest thyself to God. And for that in this one thing thou shouldst have had little trust in me I vehemently grieved and was ashamed. For I (God [knows]) would without hesitation precede or follow thee to the Vulcanian fires according to thy word. For not with me was my heart, but with thee. But now, more than ever, if it be not with thee, it is nowhere. For without thee it cannot anywhere exist.”
― Héloïse d'Argenteuil, quote from The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse

“If there is anything that may properly be called happiness here below, I am persuaded it is the union of two persons who love each other with perfect liberty, who are united by a secret inclination, and satisfied with each other's merits. Their hearts are full and leave no vacancy for any other passion; they enjoy perpetual tranquillity because they enjoy content.”
― Héloïse d'Argenteuil, quote from The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse

“Everyone wishes to be saved, but few will use those means which religion prescribes.”
― Héloïse d'Argenteuil, quote from The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse

“Strive now to unite in yourself all the virtues of these different examples. Have the purity of virgins, the austerity of anchorites, the zeal of pastors and bishops, and the constancy of martyrs.”
― Héloïse d'Argenteuil, quote from The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse

“we are much fonder of the pictures of those we love, when they are at a great distance, than when they are near to us.”
― Héloïse d'Argenteuil, quote from The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse

“It is always some consolation in sorrow to feel that it is shared, and any burden laid on several is carried more lightly or removed.”
― Héloïse d'Argenteuil, quote from The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse

“If there is anything that may properly”
― Héloïse d'Argenteuil, quote from The Letters of Abélard and Héloïse

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“If there was any doubt about the authenticity of his fake ID, it would now be put to the test. As Sage waited for the Secret Service to do their due diligence, I wondered how much our mission to find Dad would be set back by Sage taking a quick detour to federal prison.
“He’s clear,” the lead agent finally said.
Great, we could go in. Sage politely insisted that Rayna and I enter before him.
“Not sure that’s such a good idea,” I said, but he wouldn’t hear it. Rayna, Ben, and I shared a knowing smile. Then I shrugged and stepped over the threshold…immediately triggering the Piri alarm. I don’t know how she knew; she was all the way in the kitchen. But the minute I stepped into the foyer she raced in, arms waving in the air, a high-pitched scream keening from her lungs.
“AIIIIIIEEEEEEEE!!”
“He made me do it, Piri,” I said, happily tossing Sage under the bus. “I tried to tell him-“
Piri strode right up to Sage, her head barely reaching his sternum, and jabbed her finger into his chest to emphasize each scolding word. “You never let a woman enter this house before a man! Very bad luck! And when the senator’s doing business! Jaj!”
She pushed us back outside, closed the door, and spit three times on the porch (barely missing the shoes of one of the Secret Service agents), then turned her baleful eyes to Sage, asking him to do the same.
“I don’t think I really need to spit on Clea’s porch,” Sage said uncomfortably, but Piri’s glare only grew more and more violent until he withered under its power…and spit three times. Piri smiled smugly and opened the door, gesturing for Sage to enter. Ben went next, bending to Piri’s ear to murmur, “If it’d been me, I would have gone in first.”
“That’s because you’re a smart boy,” Piri said, kissing him on both cheeks.
Once we were all in, Piri greeted us as if for the first time, with huge hugs and two-cheeked kisses.
As she led us to the luncheon raging in the other room, Ben crowed to Sage, “You know, a real European scholar would be up on old-school superstitions.”
Sage grimaced.”
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― Susane Colasanti, quote from Keep Holding On

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― Lisa Kleypas, quote from Love in the Afternoon

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― Anne Bishop, quote from Vision in Silver

“…everything has a past. Everything – a person, an object, a word, everything. If you don’t know the past, you can’t understand the present and plan properly for the future.”
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