Quotes from These Old Shades

“Remind me one day to teach you how to achieve a sneer, Hugh. Yours is too pronounced, and thus but a grimace. It should be but a faint curl of the lips.”
― Georgette Heyer, quote from These Old Shades

“His Grace was at her side, and lifted her down from the chair.
"My enfant," he said , "duchesses do not dance on chairs, nor do they call their brothers 'imbécile'."
Léonie's twinkled irrepressibly.
"I do," she said firmly.”
― Georgette Heyer, quote from These Old Shades

“Léonie, you will do well to consider. You are not the first woman in my life."

She smiled through her tears. "Monseigneur, I would so much rather be the last woman than the first,” she said.”
― Georgette Heyer, quote from These Old Shades

“My house seems remarkably full of people," he observed. "Is it possible we were expected.”
― Georgette Heyer, quote from These Old Shades

“A certain cynicism, born of the life she has led; a streak of strange wisdom; the wistfulness behind the gaiety; sometimes fear; and nearly always the memory of loneliness that hurts the soul.”
― Georgette Heyer, quote from These Old Shades

“Child, you do not know me. You have created a mythical being in my likeness whom you have set up as a god. It is not I. Many times, infant, I have told you that I am no hero, but I think you have not believed me. I tell you now that I am no fit mate for you...My reputation is damaged beyond repair, child. I come from vicious stock, and I have brought no honor to the name I bear. To no women have I been faithful; behind me lies scandal upon sordid scandal...You have seen perhaps the best of me; you have not seen the worst'

'Ah, Monseigneur, you need not have told me this! I know--I have always known, and still I love you. I do not want a boy. I only want Monseigneur.”
― Georgette Heyer, quote from These Old Shades

“M'sieur, I am as a slave to my wife." He kissed the tips of his fingers. "I am as the dirt beneath her feet." He clasped his hands. "I must bestow on her all that she desires, or die!"

"Pray make use of my sword, " invited his Grace. "It is in the corner behind you.”
― Georgette Heyer, quote from These Old Shades

“Wonderful!" said the Duke. "We progress!"
"We...? Progress? You said we? Progress?"
"It seems I erred," Avon sighed. "We remain at the same place.”
― Georgette Heyer, quote from These Old Shades

“Monseigneur, I have killed you! You are dead! You are dead!"

You display an unseemly joy," he remarked. "I had no notion you were so bloodthirsty.”
― Georgette Heyer, quote from These Old Shades

“I do not want a boy. I only want Monseigneur!”
― Georgette Heyer, quote from These Old Shades

“I am relieved. May I now have the truth?”
― Georgette Heyer, quote from These Old Shades

“I cannot bear to go back alone - to the world I have lived in with you.”
― Georgette Heyer, quote from These Old Shades

“I believe I have several times requested you not to call Rupert 'imbecile', infant."
"But Monseigheur, he is an imbecile!" she protested. "You know he is!"
"Undoubtedly, ma fille, but I do not tell the whole world so."
"Then I do not know what I am to call him," said Leonie.”
― Georgette Heyer, quote from These Old Shades

“It must have been-hell!" Merivale said.

"Just so," bowed his Grace. "It was the very worst kind of hell, as I know."

"The wonder is that she has come through it unscathed."

The hazel eyes lifted.

"Not quite unscathed, my dear Anthony. Those years have left their mark."

"It were inevitable, I suppose. But I confess I have not seen the mark."

"Possibly not. You see the roguery, and the dauntless spirit."

"And you?" Merivale watched him curiously.

"Oh, I see beneath, my dear! But then, I have had experience of the sex, as you know."

"And you see-what?"

"A certain cynicism, born of the life she has led; a streak of strange wisdom; the wistfulness behind the gaiety; sometimes fear; and nearly always the memory of loneliness that hurts the soul.”
― Georgette Heyer, quote from These Old Shades

“Of a certainty Madame has died," Leonie said wickedly. "Tiens, c'est bien drole!”
― Georgette Heyer, quote from These Old Shades

“You'll dine with us, Comte? And you, Anthony?"
"I trespass on your hospitality!" Armand protested.
"Devil a bit, man!" said Rupert. "It's Avon's hospitality you trespass on, and our patience.”
― Georgette Heyer, quote from These Old Shades

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Popular quotes

“Mother was still brooding over the loss of her offspring many years ago but the same mother could cheerfully look upon the death of a mother bird. She had admiration for her son who had killed that innocent bird. She could partake of the dead mother’s meat with relish. I was baffled by this contradiction in life.”
― Vishnu Sakharam Khandekar, quote from Yayati: A Classic Tale of Lust

“I'm doing my job, Jan, and it's fucking killing me with how I'm being made to dance naked in different whore-house windows.”
― Jack L. Pyke, quote from Backlash

“Nobody can teach you how to like something. You can like it, or you can pretend to like it, in order to make someone happy.”
― Lemony Snicket, quote from Why Is This Night Different from All Other Nights?

“Oscar pushed a strand of her loose raven hair behind her ear, and Camille knew she hadn’t completely failed. The man she loved, and who loved her, was alive when, under all normal circumstance, he shouldn’t be. How could that be seen as failure?
“You know, and I know.” Oscar paused to take a breath. “William would never have approved of us being together.”
He held his eyes level with hers, as if trying to detect any flicker of doubt or apprehension in her.
“We won’t be tying bait bags for a living, will we?” she asked, willing to give up her wealth, her good name, but never her dignity.
Oscar laughed. “No bait bags.”
“Well, of that my father would at least approve. And even if he didn’t,” she said with a sly grin, “I do.”
She rose to the tips of her toes and kissed him.
“Oy, lovebirds!” Ira shouted from the ground. He and Samuel had reached the base and now looked into the sunlight, shielding their eyes with the planes of their hands. “Should I build a campfire and start sending smoke signals? Here we are, beasties! Come have lunch!”
Oscar’s familiar sarcasm slipped back into place. “No smoke signals needed, Ira, the shouting will do just fine.”
He released his arms from around her waist, and Camille reluctantly let him go, too. He descended the first boulder. “I’ll go first, in case you slip.”
Oscar’s eyes came level with Camille’s ratty wool stockings. He looked up at her, his dimples as irresistible as the first time she’d seen them.
“Well, at least it’s an improvement from bare feet,” he said.
Camille wiggled her toes, laughing. She started down the mound of boulders toward the world that lay ahead, her footing sure and steady.”
― Angie Frazier, quote from Everlasting

“Now she realized that she was not peering at a so-dark-blue-it-looked-black ocean, but rather she was looking straight through miles of incredibly clear water at something enormous and black in its nethermost depths. Maybe it was the bottom--so deep that not even light could touch it.

And yet, down in those impossible depths, she thought she could see tiny lights sparkling. She stared uncertainly at the tiny glimmerings. They seemed almost like scattered grains of sand lit from within; in some places they clustered like colonies, faint and twinkling.

Like stars...”
― Fuyumi Ono, quote from The Twelve Kingdoms: Sea of Shadow

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