Dragonfly in Amber (Outlander, #2)

by Diana Gabaldon

Social prejudice is a strong force, but no match for simple competence when skill is in urgent demand and short supply.

But for the hours of the night, I was helpless; powerless to move as a dragonfly in amber.

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.”

“Then let amorous kisses dwell On our lips, begin and tell A Thousand and a Hundred score A Hundred, and a Thousand more.”

“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.”