"Sometimes Hen...I think I would give my life just for one of your smiles."

"I don't know why people persist in believing women are inferior, when it is quite clear that men are the more feeble-minded of the two."

"You always get more respect when you don't have a happy ending."

"Maybe she was a wallflower. There was no shame in that. Especially not if one enjoyed being a wallflower."

"I'm home'', he said against her skin, and she realized it was the truth.''I'm home, too''."

"It's only through sheer force and luck that she's yet to take over the world."

"Miss Butterworth and the Mad Baron, Sebastian said approvingly. "Excellent choice."You have read this? Alexei asked."It's not as good as Miss Davenport and the Dark Marquis, of course, but worlds better than Miss Sainsbury and the Mysterious Colonel.Harry found himself rendered speechless."I'm reading Miss Truesdale and the Silent Gentleman right now."Silent? Harry echoed."There is a noticeable lack of dialogue, Sebastian confirmed."

"At present, however, with his aching head and queasy stomach, Sebastian was feeling exceedingly resistible. Or if not that, then resistant. Aphrodite herself could descend from the ceiling, floating on a bloody clamshell, naked but for a few well-placed flowers, and he'd likely puke at her feet.No, no, she ought to be completely naked. If he was going to prove the existence of a goddess, right here in this room, she was damned well going to be naked.He'd still puke on her feet, though."

"I love you with everything I am, everything I've been, and everything I hope to be. I love you with my past, and I love you for my future. I love you for the children we'll have and for the years we'll have together. I love you for every one of my smiles and even more, for every one of your smiles."

"You are always looking at people like this. And then she made a face, one he couldn't possibly begin to describe."If I ever look like that, he said dryly, "precisely like that, to be more precise, I give you leave to shoot me."

"Oh, go ahead and giggle," Lady Danbury sighed. "I've found that the only way to avoid parental frustration is to view him as a source of amusement."

"You're in a rather odd mood today."I'm soaking wet, Eloise."No need to snap at me about it, I didn't force you to walk across town in the rain."It wasn't raining when I left,". There was something about a sibling that brought out the eight-year-old in a body.I'm sure the sky was gray," Clearly, she had a bit of the eight-year-old in her as well."

"Elizabeth, you resemble nothing so much as a hen trying to hatch a book."

"What a sad pair we are," she said. "Surely we can manage a conversation on a topic other than our respective terrible evenings."

"How do you feel? she asked, trying to fluff his pillow. "Other than terrible, I mean.He moved his head slightly to the side. It seemed to be a sickly interpretation of a shrug."Of course you're feeling terrible, she clarified, "but is there any change? More terrible? Less terrible?He made no response."The same amount of terrible?"

"Felicity," Mrs. Featherington interurupted, "why don't you tell Mr. Brdgerton about your watercolors?"For the life of him, Colin couldn't imagine a less interesting topic (except maybe for Phillipa's watercolors), but he nonetheless turned to the youngest Featherington with a friendly smile and asked, "And how are your watercolors?"But Felicity, bless her heart, gave him a rather friendly smile herself and said nothing but, "I imagine they're fine, thank you."

"Watch over Honoria, will you? See that she doesn't marry an idiot."

"No one knows as well as I how much nonsense is printed in books."

"And, she was able to tell herself with some satisfaction, the man in question - one Colin Bridgerton - felt precisely the same way........His earth shook, his heart leaped, and Penelope knew without a doubt that his breath was taken away as well. For a good ten seconds.Falling off a horse tended to do that to a man."

"Are you all right? he asked Olivia. His heart was still racing with terror that she'd been hurt. "I heard a woman scream."Ah, that would have been me, Sebastian said.Harry looked down on his cousin, face frozen in disbelief. "You made that noise?"It hurt, Sebastian bit off.Harry fought not to laugh. "You scream like a leettle girl."

"It suddenly made sense. Only twice in his life had he felt this inexplicable, almost mystical attraction to a woman. He'd thought it remarkable, to have found two, when in his heart he'd always believed there was only one perfect woman out there for him. His heart had been right. There was only one."

"I can't help but think that if she was going to kill herself, she might as well have done it earlier. Perhaps when I was a toddler. Or better yet, an infant. It certainly would have made my life easier. I asked my uncle Hugh (who is not really my uncle, but he is married to the stepsister of my current mother's brother's wife and he lives quite closeand he's a vicar) if I would be going to hell for such a thought. He said no, that frankly, it made a lot of sense to him. I do think I prefer his parish to my own."

"Don't tell me your name. It's likely to awaken my conscience, and that's the last thing we want."

"Love works in mysterious ways."

"John shrugged. "It always seemed silly to me to desire a woman who cannot converse any better than a sheep."Belle leaned forward, her eyes glittering mischievously. "Really? I would have thought you'd prefer such a woman,considering your difficulty with polite conversation.""Touche, my lady. I cede this round to you."

"Oakley won't," the duke said.She turned and blinked. "I beg your pardon.""Lord Oakley. He won't forget to find us rooms. I've known him for years. The only thing that is making this bearable is that he must be dying inside over all this.""You don't like him?""On the contrary. I've long considered him a friend. It's why I enjoy his misery so much."

"I can't imagine a romance novel published today where the hero rapes the heroine and she falls in love with him."

"I am asking you to marry me because I love you, he said, "because I cannot imagine living my life without you. I want to see your face in the morning, and then at night, and a hundred times in between. I want to grow old with you, I want to laugh with you, and I want to sigh to my friends about how managing you are, all the while secretly knowing I am the luckiest man in town."What? she demanded.He shrugged. "A man's got to keep up appearances. I'll be universally detested if everyone realizes how perfect you are."

"Colin decided then and there that the female mind was a strange and incomprehensible organ - one which no man should even attempt to understand. There wasn't a woman alive who could go from point A to B without stopping at C, D, X, and 12 along the way."

"Did you know I have always suspected that men were idiots," Daphne ground out, "but I was never positive until today."

"The unexpected moment [is] always sweeter."

"To call that writing, madam, is an insult to quills and ink across the world."

"There were rules among friends, commandments, really, and the most important one was Thou Shalt Not Lust After Thy Friend's Sister."

"This has to be the most self-centered thing I've ever said, but no, I think you just wanted to vex me."

"A man with charm is an entertaining thing, and a man with looks is, ofcourse, a sight to behold, but a man with honor - ah, he is the one, dear reader, to which young ladies should flock."

"Any man, you'll soon learn, has an insurmountable need to blame someone else when he is made to look a fool."

"It was heaven. Forget angels, forget St. Peter and glittering harpsichords. Heaven was a dance in the arms of one's true love."

"James - "Are you paying attention or just trying to make me look like an idoit?"Elizabeth - "Oh, I'm definately paying attention. If you look like an idiot it has nothing to do with me."

"It was those eyes as much as anything that had earned him his reputation as a man to be reckoned with. When he stared at a person, clear and unwavering, men grew uncomfortable. Women positively shivered."

"She tried to remind herself that beauty was only skin deep, but that didn't offer any helpful excuses when she was berating herself for never knowing what to say to people. There was nothing more depressing than an ugly girl with no personality.It hurts, because deep inside, she knew who she was, and that person was smart and kind and often very funny, but somehow her personality always got lost somewhere between her heart and her mouth, and she found herself saying the wrong thing or, more often, nothing at all."

"Caroline stamped her foot in frustration, but when it landed, it landed on something considerablyless flat than the floor."Owww!" he yelled.Oh! His foot!Sorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorry , she mouthed.I didn't mean it."If you think I can understand that," he growled, "you're crazier than I'd originally thought."

"And she never knew that he laid awake the whole time, his lips at her temple, his hand against her hair.Whispering her name.Whispering other words as well."

"If you do not apologize to Lady Honoria, Marcus said, his voice so mild as to be terrifying, "I will kill you.There was a collective gasp, and Daisy faked a swoon, sliding elegantly into Iris, who promptly stepped aside and let her hit the floor."Oh, come now, Mr. Grimston said. "Surely it won't come to pistols at dawn."I'm not talking about a duel, Marcus said. "I mean I will kill you right here."

"You have to live each hour as if it's your last and each day as if you were immortal. - Kate Sheffield."

"You don't talk much, do you?" she blurted out."I didn't think there was a need. You seem to be holding up both our ends of the conversation admirably."

"He loved her.He wanted her.He needed her.And he needed her now."

"Most people would have probably lost count around seven. This was, Harry knewfrom his extensive reading on logic and arithmetic, the largest number that most peoplecould visually appreciate. Put seven dots on a page, and most people can take a quickglance and declare, "Seven. Switch to eight, and the majority of humanity was lost."

"Michael nodded tersely, eyeing a table across the room. It was empty. So empty. So joyfully, blessedly empty.He could picture himself a very happy man at that table."Not feeling very conversational this evening, are we?" Colin asked, breaking into his (admittedly tame) fantasies."

"Perriwickturned to Penelope as he set the tray down on a table. "If I might be so bold, my lady-""Perriwick!" Blake roared. "If I hear the phrase 'if I might be so bold' one more time, as God is mywitness, I'm going to toss you into the channel!""Oh dear," Penelope said. "Perhaps he does have the fever, after all.Perriwick , what do you think?"The butler reached for Blake's forehead, only to have his hand nearly bitten off. "Touch me and die,"Blake snarled."

"I am going to kill you," he hissed.She gulped. "Don't you want to lecture me first?"He stared at her with a heavy dose of stupefaction."I take that back," he said with precisely clippedwords. "First I am going to strangle you, and then I am going to kill you.""Here?" she asked doubtfully, looking around. "Won't my dead body look suspicious in the morning?"