Quotes from The Reluctant Heiress

Eva Ibbotson ·  368 pages

Rating: (7.1K votes)


“I must go-- the aunts will be worried. Guy, I don't know if we will meet again, but--" Her voice broke and she tried again. "Sometimes, when you're alone and you look up at--" Once more, she had to stop. Then she managed, "If I cannot be anything else... could I be your Star Sister? Could I at least be that?"

Guy dug his nails into his palms. Everything in him rose in protest at the fey, romantic conceit. He did not want her in the heavens, linked to him by some celestial whimsy, but here and now in the flesh and after the death of the flesh, her hand in his as they rose from graves like these when the last trump sounded.

"Yes," he managed to say. "You can be my Star Sister. You can at least be that.”
― Eva Ibbotson, quote from The Reluctant Heiress


“She took a deep breath, inhaling the night air scented with hay, honeysuckle and the rich waters of the lake, listened to the music and laughter coming from the theatre, tilted her head to the the stars. She had never seen them so brilliant and clear. Cassiopeia, Orion, the great girdle of the Milky Way-and her own birth sign, Gemini. With such staggering beauty in the world, how could anyone not rejoice?

It seemed however, that 'anyone' could. For at once came the age-old cry of lovers since time began. 'What are the stars if i am not gazing at them with him? What is beauty except something we share?”
― Eva Ibbotson, quote from The Reluctant Heiress


“[Tessa] knew about phantom limbs [....] Her cheek, where the Englishman's fingers had been, did not exactly ache ... but very strangely, most curiously ... it felt.”
― Eva Ibbotson, quote from The Reluctant Heiress


“Do I know everything about him already? she thought, bewildered. And back came the answer: Everything. You are branded with this knowledge, you will have it for the rest of time.”
― Eva Ibbotson, quote from The Reluctant Heiress


“It is a fearful thing to love what time can touch.”
― Eva Ibbotson, quote from The Reluctant Heiress



“The Unconscious, lately discovered by Professor Freud and used by others to store their joys, fears and frustrations, was for Nerine a gigantic subterranean wardrobe”
― Eva Ibbotson, quote from The Reluctant Heiress


About the author

Eva Ibbotson
Born place: in Vienna, Austria
Born date January 21, 1925
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“A journey once begun, has no end”
― Kiran Desai, quote from The Inheritance of Loss


“We give lip service to acceptance, as though acceptance were enough.”
― Octavia E. Butler, quote from Parable of the Sower


“Mortals could rarely recognize their true feelings before those true feelings hit them in the face”
― Lauren Kate, quote from Fallen in Love


“They wanted it because they've got some sort of darkness in them. And maybe because they like pain. Because pain turns them on. Well, maybe it turns me on, too," she said quietly. "In fact, I know it does, because loving you hurts. And yet, I still come back for more.”
― Larissa Ione, quote from Desire Unchained


“You couldn't always control life, just your response to it.”
― C.C. Hunter, quote from Whispers at Moonrise


Interesting books

Purity in Death
(21.2K)
Purity in Death
by J.D. Robb
Upon the Midnight Clear
(23.6K)
Upon the Midnight Cl...
by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent 1934-1941
(4K)
Berlin Diary: The Jo...
by William L. Shirer
Faking It
(17.1K)
Faking It
by Jennifer Crusie
Deliver Us from Evil
(20.7K)
Deliver Us from Evil
by David Baldacci
Soul Mountain
(3.6K)
Soul Mountain
by Gao Xingjian

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.