Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander, #2)

by Diana Gabaldon

But from the very start, there is that small streak of steel within each child. That thing that says “I am,” and forms the core of personality.

“But I talk to you as I talk to my own soul,” he said, turning me to face him. He reached up and cupped my cheek, fingers light on my temple. “And, Sassenach,” he whispered, “your face is my heart.”

Healing comes from the healed; not from the physician. That much, Raymond had taught me.

You cannot save the world, but you might save the man in front of you, if you work fast enough.

“I will find you,” he whispered in my ear. “I promise. If I must endure two hundred years of purgatory, two hundred years without you—then that is my punishment, which I have earned for my crimes. For I have lied, and killed, and stolen; betrayed and broken trust. But there is the one thing that shall lie in the balance. When I shall stand before God, I shall have one thing to say, to weigh against the rest.” His voice dropped, nearly to a whisper, and his arms tightened around me. “Lord, ye gave me a rare woman, and God! I loved her well.”

“it’s only the essence of a thing that counts. When time strips everything else away, it’s only the hardness of the bone that’s left.”