Martha Waters > Quotes

“...if you are going to insist on losing faith in someone the moment you see the slightest possibility that they have wronged you, you are going to have a very frustrating life.”
― Martha Waters, To Have and to Hoax

“I think I love Jeremy,” she said quietly, forcing herself to state the words simply, without hesitation. “I’ve no idea why,” she added, unable to help herself, “considering he’s vain and maddening and I can barely converse with him without wanting to stab him with a fork, but apparently that is what love looks like for me. And,” she added, her mind lingering on the look in his eye when he gazed at her sometimes, as though marveling at her very existence, “I think he might love me, too—though, being a man, I expect he’s too dense to realize it.”
― Martha Waters, To Love and to Loathe

“You think you’re fooling everyone when you use that tone,” she said, crossing her arms—regrettably—over her chest. “But just so you know, you’re not fooling me. You’re more than a charming rake, Jeremy, and you’ll realize soon enough that you’re not fooling yourself, either. But don’t expect me to wait around for that moment to arrive.”
― Martha Waters, To Love and to Loathe

“Because I love you,” he said, the words coming out of him in a rush. “Because you were brave yesterday, and I was an ass, and you deserve better. Because I was afraid to tell you how I felt, I was afraid I couldn’t be the person you think you see in me—but you deserve someone who isn’t afraid. Because I’ve spent the past six years trying not to think about David, about all the ways that I’m not measuring up to him, about all the ways I’m still angry with him—and you’ve made me realize it’s all right. I feel like… like Jeremy again when I’m around you. And it feels like that’s enough.”
― Martha Waters, To Love and to Loathe

“How dare anything about him be reassuring? The nerve of the man.”
― Martha Waters, To Swoon and to Spar

“J'ai découvert récemment que plus on nie avoir des sentiments profonds pour quelqu'un, plus la probabilité qu'ils existent est grande”
― Martha Waters, To Love and to Loathe

“I’d rather spend my days arguing with you than in calm conversation with anyone else in the world.”
― Martha Waters, To Have and to Hoax

“They’d turned off the A road a couple of minutes earlier, and were now driving along the sorts of roads that, in America—well, they wouldn’t exist, because people would not be able to squeeze two oversized SUVs down them.”
― Martha Waters, Christmas Is All Around

“You truly read books about that?” He recalled that she had mentioned as much that day in the library, when they’d kissed in the armchair, but he had not stopped to fully consider all the implications. “Penvale.” Jane’s voice had slid into outright exasperation. “Do you see how much time I spend reading? Don’t you think I would find something else to do if the books weren’t about something interesting?”
― Martha Waters, To Swoon and to Spar

“Her hand felt small in his, he thought: where his thumb rested on her wrist, he could feel her pulse tapping against his skin like a bird's wing”
― Martha Waters

“Il n'y avait nul autre endroit sur terre où elle aurait préféré être”
― Martha Waters, To Have and to Hoax

“Vous pourriez cependant considérer que certaines choses valent le risque encouru”
― Martha Waters, To Love and to Loathe

“Which is the one where they hate each other, but then they love each other in the end?" He paused, tapping his chin thoughtfully. "Come to think of it, that could describe about half of them, from what I've gathered, but this one seemed to make a particular fuss of the fact that they really hated each other."
"Are you," Jane began in barely more than a whisper, "describing Pride and Prejudice?"
Penvale snapped his fingers. "That's the one! Or," he added, "I suppose I could be describing the story of Diana and Jeremy's courtship. Who can say?”
― Martha Waters, To Swoon and to Spar

“Je commence à penser que si on rencontre quelqu'un qui en vaut la peine, alors il mérite qu'on prenne des risques pour lui”
― Martha Waters, To Love and to Loathe

“It’s not rubbish, but it’s not brilliant, either,” she had explained to him once. “I think I’m far too interested in too many things to excel at one single pursuit.”
― Martha Waters, To Have and to Hoax

“They were, he realized, the beginning and the end of everything; she was his wife, and he loved her.”
― Martha Waters, To Have and to Hoax

“Love can exist without marriage, just as much as the opposite is true. I promise you, I’m quite certainly in love with Sutton, and we’ll never be married,” Lady Helen said. “It seems to me that there is a fair amount of feeling between you and Lord Willingham, even if you never marry.”
― Martha Waters, To Love and to Loathe

“Pourtant dans les livres d'amour, aucune scène romantique ne se concluait par une crise cardiaque”
― Martha Waters, To Have and to Hoax

“C'était si agréable d'être au milieu d'une foule, de lever soudain la tête et de croiser son regard vert qui cherchait le sien. De savoir qu'il serait toujours à ses côtés...”
― Martha Waters, To Have and to Hoax

“She was testing him, too, and she knew she shouldn’t, but something about him had always made her want to prod at his stiff exterior until it shattered.”
― Martha Waters, To Have and to Hoax

“Vous vous chamaillez parce que vous vous ressemblez trop. Chacun se voit dans l'autre comme un miroir.”
― Martha Waters, To Love and to Loathe

“She [Diana] trailed off, at a loss to explain the complex whirlwind of emotions that had taken up residence within her without her consent. That was the trouble with feelings--they so rarely appeared when it was convenient, and even more rarely did they appear in a desirable configuration. It was one of the many reasons she had done her best to protect herself against them...”
― Martha Waters, To Love and to Loathe

“Diana Bourne was only eighteen, but she knew one thing already: men were fools.”
― Martha Waters, To Love and to Loathe

“Une femme occupée ne s'attardait pas sur les baisers”
― Martha Waters, To Love and to Loathe

“It was impossible to put into words the sense of stillness and calm she achieved when seated before a canvas, and any attempt on her part to articulate this made her feel frustrated and fraudulent.”
― Martha Waters, To Love and to Loathe

“Now, James, need I remind you that I have made references to aubergines several times recently?" Violet put in innocently. "Vegetables are truly the height of romance.”
― Martha Waters, To Woo and to Wed

“...as any lady knows, a well-tied cravat is nothing to take lightly.”
― Martha Waters, To Love and to Loathe

“Even when he heard one played by a skilled practitioner, he was on edge, as though the screeching were about to commence at any moment. Sophie”
― Martha Waters, To Woo and to Wed

“she never, ever wanted to seem like she needed attention, extra care. She’d spent her childhood trying to ignore the drama of the family that surrounded her, and maintained her status as the most low-maintenance friend to everyone she knew.”
― Martha Waters, Christmas Is All Around

“That bird at the window was an inspired touch.'
'That bird flew into the glass two days ago, and I wouldn't let the gardeners dispose of it--- I thought it might come in handy. Never let a good corpse go to waste, that's what I always say,' Mrs. Ash added.
'How sensible,' Jane agreed, deciding not to inquire as to precisely how many corpses Mrs. Ash kept on the premises.”
― Martha Waters, To Swoon and to Spar