Anna Elliott > Quotes

“It is a truth universally acknowledged that a young lady of rank and property will have packs of money- or land-hungry suitors yapping around her heels like hounds after a fox.”
― Anna Elliott, Georgiana Darcy's Diary: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice Continued

“My affections truly were not engaged. It is only my pride that is hurt, not my heart.”
― Anna Elliott, Georgiana Darcy's Diary: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice Continued

“It’s just that it seems to me that what is a terrible hardship to one person may seem trivially small to another, but that does not necessarily make the hardship any the less hard to bear for the one who suffers it.”
― Anna Elliott, Georgiana Darcy's Diary: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice Continued

“Work delivers us from three great evils: boredom, vice and want.”
― Anna Elliott, Georgiana Darcy's Diary: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice Continued

“Insane, no. Brave to the point of being arguably stupid, yes.”
― Anna Elliott, Star-Sown Sky

“There was something deeply satisfying about kneeling in the earth, hands in the soil, restoring order in small, manageable ways. The world might be vast and unpredictable, but this—this she could tend to.”
― Anna Elliott, The Spitfire Murders

“every time I let you out of my sight, I wind up flat on my back with a fresh set of bruises.”
― Anna Elliott, The Harvest Festival Murders

“Holmes was past master of the vague, open-handed gesture.”
― Anna Elliott, The Return of the Ripper

“I doubt that there’s much to interest you about the business,” Lestrade went on. “Seems a clear-cut case, no mystery about it.” “I am delighted to hear you say so. Nothing gives me more assurance that the truth about this affair will prove to be quite the reverse.”
― Anna Elliott, Death at the Diogenes Club

“Holmes smiled faintly. “You are quite determined to shape me into some semblance of a normal human being.”
― Anna Elliott, Remember, Remember

“The hallway was unlighted, the only illumination coming from a barred and grimy window set high in the wall behind us. I had never been to the holding cells in a police station before, but everything about this place seemed to fairly ooze desperation and despair.”
― Anna Elliott, Remember, Remember

“Honour isn’t lost in a moment, but bit by bit, with the small compromises and petty crimes that chip away at a man’s character until there’s no goodness left.”
― Anna Elliott, The Scrooge Conspiracy: A Homefront Sleuths Mystery

“Friday 22 April 1814 It is a truth universally acknowledged that a young lady of rank and property will have packs of money- or land-hungry suitors yapping around her heels like hounds after a fox.”
― Anna Elliott, Georgiana Darcy's Diary: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice Continued

“People learned to walk with burdens they had not sought; they learned where to put their feet.”
― Anna Elliott, The Scrooge Conspiracy: A Homefront Sleuths Mystery

“There was a mathematical certainty, if you liked: love for someone led inevitably to the fear of losing them, as sure and invariable as the output of any algorithm. And yet somehow— in ways that were entirely outside the bounds of mathematics to prove or even describe — love was worth that constant twinge of fear.”
― Anna Elliott, The Harvest Festival Murders

“I stared out the window, wondering what on earth had ever possessed me to confide in Sherlock Holmes. Actually, I had been hoping that my revealing my innermost thoughts and wishes to Holmes would lead to his being more comfortable with sharing his own. I should have tried squeezing lemonade from a rock. I would probably have been blessed with greater success.”
― Anna Elliott, Remember, Remember

“As I have always said, it is a mistake to allow matters of the heart to cloud one’s judgment or obscure one’s ability to think clearly. I bring up the issue merely so that, once acknowledged, it can be set aside.” I rubbed my forehead. I wondered whether other girls felt this way in conversing with their own parents: as though they were trying in vain to keep up with a racing steam engine that kept making violently sharp turns.”
― Anna Elliott, Remember, Remember

“Ah, Watson.” Holmes looked up from his fingerprint dusting. “One of the gentlemen present this morning, a Russian arms dealer named Dimitrios, was either inadvertently or by design in possession of a bomb, which we managed to defuse. We are now attempting to discover whether the individual who planted the bomb left us with any identifying clues.” “I see.” Watson sat down on the opposite end of the sofa from Mycroft. “In other words, an average morning, then.”
― Anna Elliott, Death at the Diogenes Club

“She has a way of fixing you with a look that seems to stab clear through to the bone, and always makes me feel as though the words were rocks lodged in my throat.”
― Anna Elliott, Georgiana Darcy's Diary: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice Continued

“It’s just that that is what music has always done for me, ever since I was quite small: given me a place to put the feelings that hurt most.”
― Anna Elliott, Georgiana Darcy's Diary: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice Continued

“my curtains were drawn against the fog that crawled through the London streets outside.”
― Anna Elliott, Death at the Diogenes Club

“I do love dancing. I even like going to balls. It’s just the thought of one being given in my honour … of so many eyes being on me throughout the evening … of having to talk to so many people I don’t know very well, and having the whole assembly of guests look on while I lead in the first dance that makes me feel ice-cold.”
― Anna Elliott, Georgiana Darcy's Diary: Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice Continued

“The route that Becky takes me on is convoluted enough to make an entire fleet of cartographers beg for mercy.”
― Anna Elliott, Remember, Remember

“thinking machine”
― Anna Elliott, Remember, Remember

“Pep talks?” “It’s an American expression. Short for pepper— which is slang for energy and general high spirits,” Evie said before Nigel could ask. "So a pep talk usually means a speech that someone— a coach or a trainer— gives before a game to boost everyone’s morale.”
― Anna Elliott, The Harvest Festival Murders

“Receiving flowers from anonymous admirers was unfortunately one of the drawbacks of a career in the theater: some men saw us perform onstage and somehow convinced themselves it was the beginning of a romantic acquaintance.”
― Anna Elliott, The Return of the Ripper

“If it resembles a duck and vocalizes in the manner of a duck, one may be reasonably justified in assuming it to be a member of the anatine family.”
― Anna Elliott, The Jubilee Problem

“THROUGH A GLASS, DARKLY”
― Anna Elliott, Remember, Remember

“War changes everything, even for performers who think they're essential.”
― Anna Elliott, The Scrooge Conspiracy: A Homefront Sleuths Mystery

“Attempts to destroy the government of England apparently brought out the full force of governmental bureaucracy in the aftermath.”
― Anna Elliott, The Jubilee Problem