A Murderous Relation Quotes

“A woman who knows her mind is a surprise to a certain type of man. They do not know how to react to it, so they generally obey,”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Murderous Relation

“He was not another half, for I was whole unto myself. But he was my mirror, and in him I saw reflected all that I liked best in me. I saw honesty and pride, loyalty, and a willingness to stand, however difficult, in service of one's principles. He was a twin soul to my own, and if I had not loved him so much, I would never have feared so much losing him.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Murderous Relation

“It’s morning,” he murmured sleepily. “The first morning.” He said nothing else, but I understood him. This was the first morning we had awakened in each other’s arms, but it was more than that. This was the first morning ever, the beginning of all creation as far as I was concerned. A new life for us had begun, hand in hand, arm in arm, facing down the rest of the world. What adventures would await us!”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Murderous Relation

“There are not going to be any intimate activities,” Stoker said. “We are going there to work, not to participate in an orgy.” Tiberius lifted his brows. “My dear boy, if you only ‘participate’ in an orgy, you are doing it incorrectly. One must join such endeavors with enthusiasm or not at all.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Murderous Relation

“There was nothing more promising than the first stage of a new expedition. Everything was possible in that moment; there was no past, no future, only that hollow in time when everything paused.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Murderous Relation

“He was no respecter of institutions simply because they boasted antiquity. He believed, like all good radicals, that everything ought to be examined anew by each generation. What served society should be retained, and what did not should be discarded without sentiment or reserve.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Murderous Relation

“Will you write?” I asked. “Probably not. The pen is a demanding mistress. I take delight in thwarting her expectations.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Murderous Relation

“The truth, dear reader, is that I was as ready for him as any filly ready for the stud. My blood thrummed whenever he came near, the air crackling between us like one of Galvani’s electrical experiments. It was a mercy that we had not been alone in our train compartment on the journey back to London; otherwise, I suspect the urgent swaying of the conveyance would have proven too much for my increasingly limited self-control.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Murderous Relation

“Necessity will always triumph over nerve in a person of character, I reflected.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Murderous Relation

“If you really believed that God preserved you in order to see this scheme to fruition, you are even more delusional than I first thought," I said in considerable exasperation. "It is impossible to argue with a mind that does not admit scientific fact and relies instead upon dogma delivered by the hand of an invisible author.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Murderous Relation

“Sometimes I helps a few of the other girls out,” she told him, raising her chin. “Long Bet needed new boots last week, and Mary Jane lacked a few shillings to renting her own room. She’s got a snug little place of her own, just around the corner,” she added. The dreams in this part of the city were as small and pinched as the faces. Four walls to call one’s own. A hot meal, a pair of shoes with sound soles.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Murderous Relation

“And so I did not try. De Clare was a lost soul; I had seen too clearly the glint of obsession in his eyes. It was the expression worn by fanatics and evangelists the world over, the dogged determination to see only one point of view and entertain no truths but the fantasy in one’s own mind. He would see this thing through to the end, no matter how many people it destroyed.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Murderous Relation

“An honest wood fire was a joy too little encountered, I reflected.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Murderous Relation

“everything ought to be examined anew by each generation.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Murderous Relation

“It was like watching a miracle of creation, and I felt no loss at its passing away from me but only joy that I had been, for however fleeting a time, connected with it.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Murderous Relation

“The pen is a demanding mistress. I take delight in thwarting her expectations.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Murderous Relation

“Seduction has been my life's work, mademoiselle. I know how a man looks at a woman when he has had her. And I know how a man looks when he is suffering for want of her.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Murderous Relation

“rose in one great flap of those enormous wings and lifted itself above my head, out of reach and beyond the horizon before I realized what was happening. It was like watching a miracle of creation, and I felt no loss at its passing away from me but only joy that I had been, for however fleeting a time, connected with it.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Murderous Relation

“For my part, I ignored her jibes, as I had long ago formed the opinion that it is best never to notice children at all in any capacity lest they take a simple greeting as an overture for discussion -- or worse yet, touching by grubby, sweet-sticky fingers.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Murderous Relation

“My dear child, it is never finished. Our enemies are cunning and careful. and they are legion.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Murderous Relation

“My feelings towards my father were ambivalent in the extreme. I vacillated between craving his attention and hoping never again to hear his name. Love and hate are not incompatible emotions, I reflected. And while I neither loved nor hated him, I would never be indifferent to the man who had sired me.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Murderous Relation

“They tallied their grudges against one another with maddening accuracy and held them close, nurturing them with care.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Murderous Relation

“I tipped my head.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Murderous Relation

“He believed, like all good radicals, that everything ought to be examined anew by each generation. What served society should be retained, and what did not should be discarded without sentiment or reserve.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Murderous Relation

“the tragic death of a famous lady mountaineer,”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Murderous Relation

“aegis.”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Murderous Relation

“(A forced interlude with a Corsican bandit of great charm had ended with him vowing to give up his errant life of villainy and take holy orders. He still sent me regular missives from the monastery where he devoted himself to the making of pungent cheeses.)”
― Deanna Raybourn, A Murderous Relation