Victorian Romance Quotes

“Looking over the Ethan's bowed head, amidst the tangled forest of Wilderness littered with the bodies of men dead and dying, Victor saw the serene image of his mother.  She smiled at her son, her unbound black hair blowing wildly in the breeze.  She reached a hand out towards him, and this time, he went with her.”
― Barbara Sontheimer, Victor's Blessing

“I'm afraid!" She cried breaking free from his embrace.
But this time, he refused to let her go.  "No, no, no, you're not afraid of me!  What am I...a foot and half taller than you and out weigh you by 130 pounds, how could you possibly be afraid of me!" He laughed.”
― Barbara Sontheimer, Victor's Blessing

“Alexandra Malkovic woke out of the nightmare that had bedevilled her sleep for days. She sat up, shivering, her heart thumping. For a few seconds she could not recognise her surroundings, then the outlines of the sparse furnishings of the room solidified in the faint moonlight coming through a gap in the curtains. This was her room in the house they had commandeered in Bihac, the city Tito’s Partisans had captured after a bitter battle a few weeks before Christmas – a battle in which she had played an important part. This was safety, an end to the long weeks on the march, sleeping on the hard ground, alert always to the sound of movement in the surrounding forest and the distant howling of wolves. So why could she not sleep in peace?”
― Holly Green, A Call to Home

“Don’t mistake softness for weakness. Only a strong man can be soft with a woman.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Hello Stranger

“I'm asking you to tell Lady Cassandra about my good qualities as well as the bad ones."
"What good qualities?" West inquired sharply.
Tom had to think for a moment. "How rich I am?”
― Lisa Kleypas, Chasing Cassandra

“I’ll marry you,” Tom told her. “Any time. Any terms.”

West gently nudged Cassandra toward the door. “Go, darling, while I talk with the insane man.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Chasing Cassandra

“We men had a meeting a long time ago, and we all decided, 'It's trousers'. And that's what we've worn ever since.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Devil in Spring

“When they shook hands, it felt like a promise had been made. A commitment.

“Now,” Ethan said, “where do you keep the guns?”
Ravenel’s brows shot upward. “Ransom, if you don’t mind, I prefer easing into a new topic with a transitional phrase or two.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Hello Stranger

“There are all different kinds of smut,” Pandora said, warming to the subject. “Smut balls, loose smut, stinking smut—”
“Pandora,” West interrupted in an undertone, “for the love of mercy, stop saying that word in public.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Devil's Daughter

“Since Love is a greased pig wasn't a particularly dignified motto, she decided the Latin translation was more elegant: Amor est uncta porcus.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Chasing Cassandra

“I want you to know I have never loved anyone like I love you. More than Darcy loved Elizabeth or Heathcliff loved Cathy. I just don’t want to make you a widow.”

“I never really understood why Brontë is considered to be a romance writer. We were required to read Wuthering Heights in high school and I always believed that her novel showcased the bleakest aspects of human nature. The story provided readers with a small yet unforgettable glimpse into the depths of human cruelty. Personally, I never considered the story romantic because the love shared between Cathy and Heathcliff was fatal, not just for themselves but for those around them. Their souls were incompatible, and they were a toxic pairing. Despite their love, passion, jealousy, and desire for connection, they were unable to recognize this fact.”

“I was never a fan of Victorian romance novels.”

“It was never one of my favorites. It’s often viewed as one of the great romance novels of all time, but I think it represents something darker: the fatal, selfish side of love, obsession, and abuse. To this day, I have not encountered a more accurate depiction of how love can become selfish.”

“Why do you say that?” Xuan asked.

“Because I think you have to love someone in the way that I love you to truly understand what love means... and to understand how wrong the story is. My soul and yours are the same in a way that Catherine and Heathcliff’s could never be. Widow or not, I will never stop loving you, Xuan. You have mesmerized me. My very soul has been entangled completely by you over these past three years. If Brontë or Austen could write the greatest love story of all time they’d write our story. And whether you marry me or not, how I feel about you will never change.”
― Kayla Cunningham, Fated to Love You

“I’ve a trunk full of books. The porters will despise me, but I'll be the most prepared Englishwoman ever to set foot on Egyptian sand.”
― K. Lyn Smith, Light of a Nile Moon

“But a man doesn’t change his character, dearest.” “I don’t expect him to change his character,” Hannah said. “My hope is that, given time, he’ll reveal it.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Lady of Conscience

“She was no stranger to the game of flirtation. During her time in Paris, many men had attempted to woo her with sweet words and kisses. But this was different. Mr. Royce was no courtly French gentleman. His touch wasn’t sweet. It was incendiary.”
― Mimi Matthews, Rules for Ruin

“She’d been made small for so long, the words hadn’t existed to articulate the wild yearnings within her... She knew now what she wanted-- what she’d always wanted... The freedom to want, to choose, to be. To live a colorful, conspicuous, unconventional life.”
― Mimi Matthews, The Muse of Maiden Lane

“He wanted to be recognized for the things he could control, not for those things he couldn’t.”
― Mimi Matthews, The Muse of Maiden Lane

“He had the vague thought that riding a difficult mare for so many years had given her an unseen reservoir of power. Luminous as she appeared, she was no will-o’-the-wisp. She was formidable. Strong.”
― Mimi Matthews, The Muse of Maiden Lane

“Starlight, of course,” he said solemnly. “For you, it will always be starlight.”
― Mimi Matthews, The Muse of Maiden Lane

“And by all her pretty blushes.
And by her hair—a thickly curling mass of titian red springing loose from its pins.
Strange, that. Not the color of her hair, but the unexpected beauty of it. Of her.”
― Mimi Matthews, Appointment in Bath

“Her eyes reluctantly met his.
They were a delicate shade of China blue. Wide, round, and fringed with thick, ink-black lashes. Beautiful eyes, really. Ivo couldn’t recall when he’d seen the like of them.”
― Mimi Matthews, Appointment in Bath

“You’re like a mosquito trapped in my tent.”
― K. Lyn Smith, Light of a Nile Moon

“She was lovely, of course. But it wasn’t that which had beguiled him so thoroughly against his will -- against his self-interest and his reason. It was the softness of her. The tender gravity in her gaze, and the reticence in her manner.”
― Mimi Matthews, A Lady of Conscience

“He didn’t think. He didn’t strategize. For once, he acted purely with his heart, doing what he most wanted to do. What he’d dreamed of doing from almost the first moment of their acquaintance.
He bent his head and he kissed her...”
― Mimi Matthews, A Lady of Conscience

“All that life in him, the sensitivity in his art and his ability to see things in all their light and shadow, stems from his own vulnerability... Indeed, there are times when he still struggles mightily with his condition.”
― Mimi Matthews, The Muse of Maiden Lane

“The temptation was too great to resist. Heart thundering madly, Teddy closed the distance and pressed his lips to hers.
Her eyes fell shut as he captured her mouth. A soft murmur of assent throbbed in her throat.
The sound sent a wild rush of heat through his veins...”
― Mimi Matthews, The Muse of Maiden Lane

“i don't want sunbursts or marble halls. i just want you.”
― LM Montgomery

“You know, say you’ve fallen out of love with me. Or—even better—that you never loved me in the first place.”

Bea’s gaze slid from his. She resumed looking at the sky, her lips pressed in a frown. “I wonder,” she said quietly, “how many more lies I must tell before all this is over?”
― Mimi Matthews

“I can’t think how I’m to behave,” she whispered as the other passengers began to appear.

“That’s easy enough,” he whispered back. “Just smile, Bea. And pretend you’re wildly in love with me.”
― Mimi Matthews, The Governess and the Rogue

“Jack had never proposed to a girl in his life. And he didn’t intend to start now, with a little sparrow of a starchy governess. No matter how fine her eyes.”
― Mimi Matthews, The Governess and the Rogue

“It's only dreamers who have cause to stare at the stars."
"You presume I'm not a dreamer?”
― Mimi Matthews, The Governess and the Rogue