A Perilous Undertaking Quotes

“Men, I had often observed, were never happier than when they believed they were imparting wisdom.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“The hardest lesson I had learnt upon my travels was patience. There are times when every muscle, every nerve, screams for movement, when every instinct urges escape. But the instinct to fly is not always a sound one. There are occasions when only stillness can save you.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“And royalty are immune from homicidal tendencies? Study your history, Stoker. I think you will discover that is how most of them became royal in the first place.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“but just beneath the bell was a small scarlet plaque bearing the name of the club and the legend ALIS VOLAT PROPRIIS. “‘She flies with her own wings,’” I translated.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“No,” he said slowly. “I am better than a husband. I am your friend.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“ALIS VOLAT PROPRIIS. “‘She flies with her own wings,’” I translated.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“You do not yet know what it means to love someone more than yourself. I have no pride left, no delicacy. I cannot afford it. So I will tell you the truth: I wanted his happiness above all things.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“Gentlemen are champion sulkers so long as one doesn’t call the behavior by that name.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“The soul is a thing apart. When you decide to share that with someone, then you will know what it is to live.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“You are far too old for fairy tales, Miss Speedwell. Surely you know the life of royalty is not at all as we believe it to be. It is a prison—a gilded one—but a prison nonetheless.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“I have traveled alone. I am unmarried, I live without a chaperone, and I work for a living. These are not the actions of a lady,”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“Anyone can get lucky,” he said coldly. “And I suspect your continued survival owes itself to a combination of good fortune and sheer bloody-mindedness. You are too stubborn to die.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“Instead we were cooped up like hapless chickens nesting on our disappointed hopes.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“If you mean to abuse me, let me finish my whiskey first.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“I gave him a watery smile. “There is an old Spanish proverb: ‘Take what you want. Take it, said God. And pay.’”
“We have paid every minute of our lives. Let someone else pay,”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“I would earnestly warn you against trying to find out the reason for and explanation of everything . . . To try and find out the reason for everything is very dangerous and leads to nothing but disappointment and dissatisfaction, unsettling your mind and in the end making you miserable.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“Yes, but you usually aren't ...
Well, I have to keep them covered or else you lose the power of speech”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“The body is a willful creature of passions that must be satisfied. But the heart--the heart must only be given to one. "That" is the sacred bit.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“The word was soft as a prayer.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“I do not know if I shall ever feel safe again leaving my house. I shall look into every stranger’s eyes thinking, ‘Is it you? Is it you who hates me so?”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“We have answers but they have only led to more questions,”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“I can have you stopped,” he said, lowering his head like a bull.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“He recovered his usual sternness, pointing a hectoring finger at me.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“He sighed again and I began to worry for his digestion.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“I studied him back, appreciating the lines of care at the corners of his eyes, the silver threads in his hair that had been bought with years of responsibility.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“That is the essence of painting, child. To capture something utterly temporary and conjure permanence.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“I would earnestly warn you against trying to find out the reason for and explanation of everything . . . To try and find out the reason for everything is very dangerous and leads to nothing but disappointment and dissatisfaction, unsettling your mind and in the end making you miserable. —QUEEN VICTORIA TO HER GRANDDAUGHTER, PRINCESS VICTORIA OF HESSE, 22 AUGUST 1883”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“I gave her a long, searching look. I would do as she asked; we both knew that. She thought she persuaded me with her talk of family feeling and my father, but that was not why I helped her. Hatred, as it happens, can be as strong an inducement as the gentler emotions”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“Who do you think insisted upon this piece of theater that Sir Hugo has played out in the inquest? Who do you think demanded that Ottilie Ramsforth’s confession be written and submitted into evidence?” Ice numbed my spine. “If I had given evidence, I might have been charged with Ottilie’s death,” I said, groping slowly towards understanding. “He could not take the chance that I would be exposed.” “He could not stand that his own child would suffer,” she corrected. “He did this for you.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking

“I am angry at being used as a pawn,” I retorted. “I am not your chess piece to move as you see fit, my lady. I was not engaged upon this investigation simply because you wished to amuse Her Royal Highness or make certain Miles Ramsforth didn’t hang. You were testing me.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Perilous Undertaking