Barbara Michaels > Quotes

“She loved the smell of books, the feel of books, the look of them on the shelf.”
― Barbara Michaels, Houses of Stone

“Who are we really? Combinations of common chemicals that perform mechanical actions for a few years before crumbling back into the original components? Fresh new souls, drawn at random for some celestial cupboard where God keeps an unending supply?

Or the same soul, immortal and eternal, refurbished and reused through endless lives, by that thrifty Housekeeper? In Her wisdom and benevolence She wipes off the memory slates, as part of the cleaning process, because if we could remember all the things we have experienced in earlier lives, we might object to risking it again.”
― Barbara Michaels, The Sea King's Daughter

“Probe deeply enough, under the slickest façade of confidence, and you tapped a vein of self-doubt or a hidden fear. Irrational fears and baseless doubts, many of them, but that was precisely why constant reassurance was necessary to the human animal.”
― Barbara Michaels

“... I [glanced] at his soldiers with a curling lip. I had learned this gesture from watching Stefano. Apparently it was just as annoying on my face....”
― Barbara Michaels, Wings of the Falcon

“Any writer who waits for inspiration to strike will never finish a book. Inspiration is all very well but it will never replace sheer dogged determination.”
― Barbara Michaels

“Bruce ate a mouthful of eggs and meditated. 'I wonder how many of the great heroes of history would turn out to be a slow runner, if you ever investigated the circumstances.”
― Barbara Michaels, Ammie, Come Home

“The difference between a scientist and a fanatic is that the scientist discards his theory if the evidence doesn’t confirm it. The fanatic twists the evidence to fit the theory.”
― Barbara Michaels, House of Many Shadows

“Stefano put an end to this tirade, which was developing rather nicely, I thought, by picking me up off the bench and lifting me till my eyes were on a level with his. My feet dangled helplessly, a good ten inches off the ground.
"Just like a man," I said, somewhat breathlessly, because his hands were squeezing my ribs. "When you are losing an argument, you resort to physical violence!"
"Oh no," Stefano said. "The physical violence is only a preliminary. This is how I counter arguments such as yours."
He kissed me.”
― Barbara Michaels, Wings of the Falcon

“Do you think they are---er---fond of one another?" I asked, conscious of a strange little pang.
"What gossips women are," Stefano said irritably. "Of course they are fond of one another. They have been friends since infancy."
"That isn't what I meant."
"I know." Stefano opened his eyes and stared at me. "Are you jealous, Cousin? I suppose that like all the females who pass through Andrea's life you fancy yourself in love with him."
"If I were, I certainly would not confess it to you," I replied angrily.
"Very wise of you," said Stefano, and closed his eyes again.”
― Barbara Michaels, Wings of the Falcon

“Kate materialized in a cloud of steam from the kitchen, like a genie in a chef's hat.”
― Barbara Michaels, Into the Darkness

“Silence might not be...entirely silent.”
― Barbara Michaels, Houses of Stone

“hours, she took forever over her morning”
― Barbara Michaels, The Wizard's Daughter

“I never believed in haunted houses, but I won't deny that every house has its own atmosphere. Some make you feel welcome the moment you walk in the door. Others repel. It's a purely physical thing, of course - a question of proportions and light and repetition of forms that soothe some personality types while they create in others a subtle distress. I know that must be the explanation, because I've been in brand new houses, still smelling of paint and plaster, that made me so uncomfortable I wanted to turn and run out, So it can't be ghosts. Unless the troubled spirits are already there, bound to the land on which the house was built ...Psychiatry is helpless, Jo ,without cooperation from the patient.”
― Barbara Michaels, The Crying Child

“The agony is the same and the cause is the same: a rigid moral absolutism that inflicts pain under the pretext of kindness.” “What story are you referring to? Sounds like”
― Barbara Michaels, Houses of Stone: A Gothic Horror Mystery Where the Past Haunts a Professor's Investigation

“Dead men don't bleed. A thriller title if ever there was one.”
― Barbara Michaels, Into the Darkness

“If I was not in danger, why are you so pale?" I inquired.
"Exhaustion," Stefano replied coldly. "The exertion of moving the stone was strenuous, for a cripple."
"I can't imagine how you did it," I murmured, letting my eyes linger on the breadth of shoulder, displayed by his wetly clinging shirt. Unperturbed by my regard, Stefano smiled.
"Because my leg is injured does not mean all my muscles are atrophied.”
― Barbara Michaels, Wings of the Falcon

“Meg swore and hopped, nursing a bruised toe.”
― Barbara Michaels, Into the Darkness

“When one’s time approached, how much better to go out in a blaze of glorious lunacy, on a gnu, than to dribble one’s life away in a rocking chair. Alexander,”
― Barbara Michaels, Shattered Silk

“But people have the most amazing ability to fight truth, even when it's staring them in the face, if it disagrees with their cherished preconceptions…”
― Barbara Michaels, The Crying Child

“Aren't you going to invite me in?"
"No."
"You aren't very polite."
"That is a virtue I am seldom accused of possessing. Don't sulk, Cousin, it spoils the shape of that charming mouth.”
― Barbara Michaels, Wings of the Falcon

“The thing that held me back from complete conviction wasn't logic. it was, as Will had said, the accumulated thought patterns of my whole life. It is very hard to reverse every rational conviction you have ever held, overnight”
― Barbara Michaels, The Crying Child

“I am perfectly fit. That damned woman only jarred me." Stefano rolled his eyes up so that he was glaring straight into my face. "I forget myself. Forgive my language, ladies---and leave me! Francesca, if you aren't out of this room in thirty seconds..."
"Where is she supposed to go?" Miss Perkins demanded. "You are most unfair to her, Count. If she hasn't earned your trust by now....You aren't deceiving me, you know," she added cryptically.
A wave of color flooded into Stefano's pale cheeks. I did not understand its meaning, but I was fascinated by this new display of emotion from a man I had considered without feelings.”
― Barbara Michaels, Wings of the Falcon

“The dark, finely arched brows that contrasted so strikingly with his pale blond hair were raised high, in the same expression with which he confronted a hostile witness.”
― Barbara Michaels, Into the Darkness

“Satan’s expression had been that of a cat who was feeling virtuous because he had not been given the opportunity to sin.”
― Barbara Michaels, Here I Stay

“Stefano greeted Miss Perkins in English, and with perfect courtesy. Then he turned a satirical eye upon me.
"My dear Miss Perkins, are you sure you and Andrea found the right Miss Fairbourn? This infant doesn't look old enough to be out of the schoolroom. What on earth am I to call her? I don't know her well enough to use a pet name, and the more formal mode of address---"
"Francesca will do nicely," I interrupted. I had felt sorry for him when I saw his infirmity, but his sarcastic manner of speaking about me, as if I were the infant he had called me, irritated me very much.
His thin smile broadened.
"I see you have a mind of your own---and a tongue to go with it.”
― Barbara Michaels, Wings of the Falcon

“Haven't you learned that you don't know Mary - or any other human being any more than they know you? You see the one tenth that shows above the surface. You never see the pressures the cracks, and weaknesses that develop underneath”
― Barbara Michaels, The Crying Child

“And I’ve got a new technique with Mrs. Grapow. I walk into the store, take the stuff I want off the shelves, and put the money on the counter. She stands there mumbling at me and waving her arms. It’s fascinating.”
― Barbara Michaels, Witch

“There is something very seductive about being allowed to talk about yourself, by someone who really listens.”
― Barbara Michaels, The Crying Child

“Meg tried to squeeze past his long legs, but there wasn't room; she had to lower the toilet seat and lie across it in order to reach him, and part of her mind roared with slightly hysterical laughter at the absurdity of the position.”
― Barbara Michaels, Into the Darkness

“...as she smiled and chatted and explained she felt like someone entertaining unexpected visitors with a dead body under the sofa.”
― Barbara Michaels, Into the Darkness