A Grave Robbery Quotes

“I have, at last, come to understand my role. It is not to discourage your exuberance or your audacity. How could I want to when those are the very qualities I admire most? If I have lectured or harangued in the past, it is because I am afraid. Every moment of every day I am afraid.

Afraid of losing that which I have come to realize I cannot live without. But I do not want a small and stifled version of you. I want you- in all your intrepid and audacious glory. I want you just as you are, the entirety of your chaos and your wildness. Your are the whirlwind I did not know I needed, but now that you are here, I will not be the one to ask you to be anything different than exactly as you are. More than anyone, I ought to understand that nature cannot be denied. And your nature is tumult.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Grave Robbery

“Why do they all have such unfortunate names? First Parthenope Fleet. Now Undine Trevelyan. Why do we never meet a Mary Smith I should like, just once, to meet a Mary Smith."

"What sort of interesting things would ever befall a Mary Smith?" I demanded. "Who would stab or poison or garotte a Mary Smith? It is unthinkable."

"Not everyone of our acquaintance needs be murdered, Veronica. In fact, some people find it preferable to make friends with normal folk."

"How very depressing." I said, sipping again. "I pity them their small lives.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Grave Robbery

“If I could have created a perfect woman, I could never have imagined you. But that is my failure. Not yours.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Grave Robbery

“The nearer we came to the crucial moment, the darker his mood, and I did not hold it against him. Men are seldom cheerful when they have been persuaded out of an emotional state into rationality. They are, in my experience, creatures of feeling rather than thought, and one must make allowances.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Grave Robbery

“Of losing that which I have come to realise I cannot live without. But I do not want a small and stifled version of you. I want you—in all your intrepid and audacious glory. I want you just as you are, the entirety of your chaos and your wildness. You are the whirlwind I did not know I needed, but now that you are here, I will not be the one to ask you to be anything different than exactly as you are. More than anyone, I ought to understand that nature cannot be denied. And your nature is tumult.” I swallowed hard against the sudden tightness in my throat. “I am not that bad,” I managed hoarsely. “No,” he said with a slow smile. “You are not bad at all. If I could have created—as Eliza Elyot attempted to—a perfect woman, I could never have imagined you. But that is my failure. Not yours.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Grave Robbery

“Not everyone shares your tendency to scorn the company of others."

"Scorn the company of others! Thanks to you, I speak to entirely too many people, entirely too often.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Grave Robbery

“Do you mean to dissuade me? Point out the flaws in my plan? Express your objections with vehemence and eloquence?"

He tipped his head. "Actually, no."

"Are you entirely well? Have you a fever? Should I palpate something?”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Grave Robbery

“A man cannot choose to die when he has not yet learnt to live." Stoker”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Grave Robbery

“We were tiny players upon that stage, I realised, called upon to deliver a short line or two before taking our bows and exiting forever. And the distance between one’s entrance and one’s final curtain was a short one indeed in the scope of eternity.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Grave Robbery

“I have, at last, come to understand my role. It is not to discourage your exuberance or your audacity. How could I want to when those are the very qualities I admire most? If I have lectured or harangued in the past, it is because I am afraid. Every moment of every day I am afraid."
"Afraid of what?" I demanded.
"Of losing that which I have come to realize I cannot live without. But I do not want a small and stifled version of you. I want you - in all your intrepid and audacious glory. I want you just as you are, the entirety of your chaos and your wildness. You are the whirlwind I did not know I needed, but now that you are here, I will not be the one to ask you to be anything different than exactly as you are. More than anyone, I ought to understand that nature cannot be denied. And your nature is tumult.”
I swallowed hard against the sudden tightness in my throat. “I am not that bad,” I managed hoarsely.
“No,” he said with a slow smile. “You are not bad at all. If I could have created - as Eliza Elyot attempted to - a perfect woman, I could never have imagined you. But that is my failure. Not yours.”
It was some time before I was mistress enough of my emotions to speak. "Only one man in a thousand - ten thousand - would have answered me as you have just done."
[some text redacted] Stoker ignored it as he rose and pulled me to my feet. "Only one woman in ten thousand would have deserved that answer.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Grave Robbery

“leave that revolver in your pocket. We are not Americans, for heaven’s sake.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Grave Robbery

“the fine line which marked peculiarity from madness was often simply a matter of wealth.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Grave Robbery

“Men are seldom cheerful when they have been persuaded out of an emotional state into rationality. They are, in my experience, creatures of feeling rather than thought, and one must make allowances.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Grave Robbery