Once Upon a Marquess Quotes

“If I had married, there is much I would not have learned of myself. This has been hard and painful and horrible. But I've learned that I'm stronger than hard, better than pain, and that with enough luck, horrible can go away.”
― Courtney Milan, Once Upon a Marquess

“But here's the thing about having been in love that first time: I always knew, every time after, that what I was faced with was a pale imitation. I never found someone else I could trust with my soul. After that first time, nothing else was acceptable.”
― Courtney Milan, Once Upon a Marquess

“Damn you, knowledge! Ruining everything good, once again. Learning things is most inconvenient.”
― Courtney Milan, Once Upon a Marquess

“There were no knights, no castles, no magic. But there was laughter, and there was love, and while Judith still had breath in her body, she would make sure they had enough. Her life was already its own once upon a time. There was enough joy in the story, enough sorrow mixed in. It might not be the sort of tale that mothers told their children but it was still a good one. Not everything hurt. It would all turn out.”
― Courtney Milan, Once Upon a Marquess

“I was worried that my brilliant good looks and easy manners would make me impossible to hate, thus ruining our fragile alliance. But this will be simple. Just tell me all the subjects you are an expert in, and I shall endeavor to explain them to you.”
― Courtney Milan, Once Upon a Marquess

“It turns out, Newton is correct: Objects at rest tend to remain at rest, and twelve-year-old-boys are even more resistant to motion than regular matter.”
― Courtney Milan, Once Upon a Marquess

“I used to think that the world could not spin correctly on its axis if he were not present.”

“I’m sure you’ve learned otherwise.”

“Oh, no.” Theresa shook her head. “I’ve just learned to walk off-center.”
― Courtney Milan, Once Upon a Marquess

“It’s a social call,” Judith said a little more loudly. “Nothing more. Nothing less. And your sister is more important than a bunch of cats.” Theresa inhaled in horror. “What!?”
― Courtney Milan, Once Upon a Marquess

“He’d been her one taste of the forbidden fruit. A slow coil of anger began to burn deep inside him. Nobody ever asked the damned fruit if it wanted to be forbidden.”
― Courtney Milan, Once Upon a Marquess

“She only knew that it felt right, the two of them together again, like two brass gears that had been machined for each other, turning in perfect harmony.”
― Courtney Milan, Once Upon a Marquess

“Let me take you home,” he said. “I can make my own way.” “I know. Let me take you anyway.”
― Courtney Milan, Once Upon a Marquess

“But I’ve learned that I’m stronger than hard, better than pain, and that with enough luck, horrible can go away.”
― Courtney Milan, Once Upon a Marquess

“She wouldn’t forget that somewhere, beneath the duties and the obligations, she still deserved joy.”
― Courtney Milan, Once Upon a Marquess

“You can’t change the world.” But she looked up into his eyes.

“Maybe not all of it,” he said. “There are parts of it we will never put right.” He slid his fingers down her wrist to her elbow. “I can’t promise you perfection. There is too much wrong. But there are also little things that will go right, and I can promise you those. There will be perfect sunsets. Perfect kittens.”


“Perfect sandwiches,” she put in.

“Perfect walks,” he told her. “Perfect arias at the opera.”

“Perfect bread.”

“This world will take a great deal of work,” he said. “But… We can start in on that together. And while we’re sorting through all the imperfections, we can find more little things to make perfect. Perfect strawberries, for instance.”

“Perfect…marriages?” She smiled tremulously up at him.

“Yes.” He slid his arm around her waist. “But before that, might I suggest perfect kisses?”

“Yes.” She stepped close to him and tilted her face up to his. “Yes. Please.”
― Courtney Milan, Once Upon a Marquess

“My lists have been out of order all these years. Would you know that all this time, I believed lists started at one? I was wrong. Lists start at zero, and I’ve been skipping the beginning my entire life.”

Her hand turned in his—not to escape, but so her fingers could interlace with his. “What is zero, then?”

“Item zero,” Christian said. “It’s you, Judith.”

She let out a long, slow exhale.

“Nothing ever made sense because I was trying to sort everything into place from one to ten. That was the mistake. You are the start of every list I’ve ever made. You are the beginning, the zeroth item, the unspoken predicate of my heart”
― Courtney Milan, Once Upon a Marquess

“There was a great deal of luck involved,” Judith said. “But it’s as I said. If I had married, there is much I would not have learned of myself. This has been hard and painful and horrible.” She swallowed. “But I’ve learned that I’m stronger than hard, better than pain, and that with enough luck, horrible can go away.”
― Courtney Milan, Once Upon a Marquess

“If I’d married,” she said softly, “I would never know what I was capable of doing. It turns out that when you take away my kid gloves and my morning dresses, I can do quite a bit. This may sound ridiculous, but I’m proud of myself.”
― Courtney Milan, Once Upon a Marquess

“Judith cast Christian a scornful look. “Who names a cat ‘Fillet’? Someone who has eleven kittens to name.” She put her hands on her hips. “I will hear no criticism from anyone who has named a smaller number of kittens.”
― Courtney Milan, Once Upon a Marquess

“On the one hand, she didn’t understand how he could be the person who had destroyed her family.

On the other hand…strawberries.

Gluttony won over principles. She took the strawberries. “Thank you,” she said. “Come in. Have a kitten.”

“A what?”

“A kitten,” she said, stepping to the side and allowing him to enter. “In fact, have two.”

He frowned. “Is that a euphemism for…?” But he stopped in the entrance, cocking his head. Inside, the mewing from down the hall was immediately evident.

“Wait your turn.” Theresa’s voice floated down to them. “Stop clawing. Smidge, that’s not nice. There. That’s better.”

“Oh.” He gave her a confused smile. “I suppose it’s not a euphemism for anything.” When he smiled, all his weariness slid away, leaving him simply…sweet.

She didn’t want him to be sweet.

“Under the circumstances, two kittens is actually a euphemism. Anything under ten is a euphemism. Welcome to the hopefully temporary cat menagerie!” Judith said brightly, shaking off her unease. “These things happen in the Worth household. Think nothing of it.”
― Courtney Milan, Once Upon a Marquess

“You’ll know,” Judith said. “If you ever see him again, you’ll know it’s him because the world will right itself”
― Courtney Milan, Once Upon a Marquess