Quotes by Book: Outlander | Dragonfly in Amber | Voyager | Drums of Autumn | The Fiery Cross | A Breath of Snow and Ashes | Echo in the Bone | Lord John Books

Dragonfly in Amber

“I’ll leave it to you Sassenach,” he said dryly, “to imagine what it feels like to arrive unexpectedly in the midst of a brothel, in the possession of a verra large sausage.”

—

” ‘But I talk to you as I talk to my own soul,’ he said, turning me to face him.”

” ‘So’, I observed, as we made our way slowly up the wide steps to the ballroom, ‘you’ve learnt a bit more about women now, I see.’ ”

” ‘The most important thing I’ve learned about women, Sassenach, is which one to choose.’ ”

—

“I am called Lord Broch Tuarach for formality’s sake,” the soft Scottish voice above me said. “And beyond the requirements of formality, you will never speak to me again — until you beg for your life at the point of my sword. Then, you may use my name, for it will be the last word you ever speak.”

—

” ‘You must,’ I murmured to myself, and then my knees buckled. Lying on the floor, with the carved panels of the ceiling flickering dimly above, I found myself thinking that I had always heretofore assumed that the tendency of eighteenth century ladies to swoon was due to tight stays; now I rather thought it might be due to the idiocy of eighteenth-century men. ”

—

When I burst through the door, I saw him standing by the table where Jenny had laid the mail. His face was dead white, and he swayed slightly where he stood, like a tree cut through, waiting for someone to shout “Timber” before falling.

—

“I came back to the still-warm bed, holding in my mind the picture of the laird of Lallybroch, half-naked in the moonlight, pouring out his heart to an unknown future, holding in his lap the promise of his blood.”

—

” Sassenach, I’ve been stabbed, bitten, slapped and whipped since supper – which I didna get to finish. I dinna like to scare children and I dinna like to flog men, and I’ve had to do both. I’ve two hundred English camped three miles away, and no idea what to do about them. I’m tired, I’m hungry, and I’m sore. If you’ve anything like womanly sympathy about ye, I could use a bit.

—

“Doom, or save. That I cannot do. For I have no power beyond that of knowledge, no ability to bend others to my will, no way to stop them doing what they will. There is only me.”

—

” ‘No,’ I said quietly. ‘A lifetime isn’t enough for that kind of love.’ With a sudden pang, I wondered where Jamie was and how he was faring.”

—

” I’ll tell ye, Sassenach; if ever I feel the need to change my manner of employment, I dinna think I’ll take up attacking women- it’s a bloody hard way to make a living. ”

—

” ‘You filthy, disgusting, outrageous…pervert!’
The Duke seemed bored by this, and nodded negligently.
‘Yes, yes, my dear. All that, I’m sure, and more.’ ”

—

I laid my head upon his chest and gave my dreams up to his keeping.

—

I thought that was perhaps how some ghosts were made; where a will and a purpose had survived, heedless of the frail flesh that fell by the wayside, unable to sustain life long enough.

—

” ‘It’s nothing very much, really,’ he said. ‘It’s only…well, she’s such an intense young lady. Perhaps her interest seems at times a trifle…obsessive?’ “