Deborah Harkness > Deborah's Quotes

“he met with the Devill, and cheated him of his Booke, wherein were written all the Witches names in England, and if he looks on any Witch, he can tell by her countenance what she is.”
― Matthew Hopkins, The Discovery of Witches and Witchcraft: The Writings of the Witchfinders

“Sorry, we've got ghosts.”
― Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”
― Leon C. Megginson

“The past can not be cured.”
― Queen Elizabeth I

“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to."
"I don't much care where –"
"Then it doesn't matter which way you go.”
― Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

“If thy heart fails thee, climb not at all.”
― Queen Elizabeth I

“A man may imagine things that are false, but he can only understand things that are true.”
― Sir Isaac Newton

“She had not character enough to take to drinking, and moaned about, slip-shod and in curl-papers, all day.”
― William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair

“These days vampires gravitated toward particle accelerators, projects to decode the genome, and molecular biology. Once they had flocked to alchemy, anatomy, and electricity. If it went bang, involved blood, or promised to unlock the secrets of the universe, there was sure to be a vampire around.”
― Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches

“Within days they'd formed an unholy alliance with a foppish young French vampire in the Garden District who had implausibly golden hair and a streak of ruthlessness as wide as the Mississippi”
― Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches

“Yes, I see that you are behaving like a prince but that doesn't mean you won't behave like a devil at the first opportunity.”
― Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches

“English vampires may not be as well behaved around witches as the American ones are.”
― Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches

“Just because something seems impossible doesn’t make it untrue,”
― Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches

“En quelques jours, ils avaient noué une alliance malsaine avec un jeune et élégant vampire français du Garden District aux cheveux blonds improbables, et totalement dénué de scrupules.”
― Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches

“I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”
― Henry David Thoreau, Walden: Or, Life in the Woods

“Somewhere in the center of my soul, a rusty chain began to unwind. It freed itself, link by link, from where it had rested, unobserved, waiting for him. My hands, which had been balled up and pressed against his chest, unfurled with it. The chain continued to drop, to an unfathomable depth where there was nothing but darkness and Matthew. At last it snapped to its full length, anchoring me to a vampire. Despite the manuscript, despite the fact that my hands contained enough voltage to run a microwave, and despite the photograph, as long as I was connected to him, I was safe.”
― Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches

“As far as I can tell there are only two emotions that keep the world spinning year after year...One is fear. The other is desire.”
― Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches

“In this room we understand why this war might be fought...it's about our common belief that no one has the right to tell two creatures that they cannot love each other--no matter what their species.”
― Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches

“there’s nothing more powerful than human fear—not magic, not vampire strength. Nothing.”
― Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches

“Matthew kept hinting that his desire - for blood, chiefly- was so strong that it put everything else at risk. But vampires weren’t the only creatures who had to manage such strong impulses. Much of what qualified as magic was simply desire in action. Witchcraft was different- that took spells and rituals. But magic? A wish, a need, a hunger too strong to be denied- these could turn into deeds when they cross a witch’s mind.”
― Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches

“I saw the logic that they used, and the death of a thousand cuts as experimental scientists slowly chipped away at the belief that the world was an inexplicably powerful, magical place. Ultimately they failed, though. The magic never really went away. It waited, quietly, for people to return to it when they found the science wanting.”
― Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches

“I know,I can smell it, too,”
― Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches

“It was a brutal picture, a tug-of-war between two equal but opposing impulses. It had the ring of truth, however,”
― Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches

“You persist in this romantic vision of what it is to be a vampire, but despite my best efforts to curb it I have a taste for blood.”
― Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches

“We kissed each other, long and deep, while my legs opened like the covers of a book.”
― Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches

“As far as I can tell, there are only two emotions that keep the world spinning, year after year. One is fear. The other is desire.”
― Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches

“Be yourself-- Matthew Clairmont. Complete with your sharp vampire teeth and your scary mother, your test tubes full of blood and your DNA, your infuriating bossiness and your maddening sense of smell.”
― Deborah Harkness

“the first requirement of war: allies must not kill each other.”
― Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches

“Are you smelling me?” After yesterday I suspected that my body was giving him all kinds of information I didn't want him to have.

“Don't tempt me,” he murmured.”
― Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches

“The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed (Albert Einstein)”
― Deborah Harkness, A Discovery of Witches