Stephanie Dray Quotes & Sayings

Because I sensed in him the magic of a poet, a storyteller who can bind you with tales of things that had never been and could never be. And I felt myself so bound. Pulled under. At a loss for breath in his presence, just as I once was in a river, clinging to life. — Stephanie Dray

But I meant every word. I'd done my daughters no favors hiding behind feminine virtues, allowing men to do as they pleased with little more than sarcasm and secrecy for protest. Seeing my son half-dead, something changed in me - my willingness to obey, my willingness to accept, to let the men handle it was gone. When — Stephanie Dray

Life is a bargain between bitter and sweet. Because there is a surfeit of bitter, we must savor the rare sweet. — Stephanie Dray

I knew that a man was not only himself but also who he wished to be. — Stephanie Dray

Kings and queens cry with family. Hide your grief from subjects and strangers. — Stephanie Dray

Because partisanship has made anything fair, which honor and propriety might once have kept quiet. — Stephanie Dray

And when Venutius was not busy fighting, he was content to spend his days hammering things near a forge and his evenings hammering, well ... as I said, we got on well. — Stephanie Dray

We have no rose without its thorn; it is the law of our existence; it is the condition annexed to all our pleasures. — Stephanie Dray

I had come to Rome in chains, but I would leave Rome a queen. — Stephanie Dray

The curves of his smile become the waves in my ocean. — Stephanie Dray

You are the magic in my soul. You are as constant in my heart as the moon in the night. You are my other half and I'll always seek you out somehow, even though it puts you in danger, and that is my shame. — Stephanie Dray

When and where you are Gaius, I then and there am Gaia." The words make him smile, and he presses a soft kiss to my cheek. "When and where you are Gaia, I then and there am Gaius. — Stephanie Dray

Dread skittered down my spine and brushed away the last tendrils of sleep. Pushing back the bed linens, I disentangled myself from Polly. Then I put my bare feet on the wooden floorboards and felt the early autumn chill on my legs. I glided soundlessly down the stairs, drawn inexorably to Papa's chamber, the only room where the candles still burned bright. I — Stephanie Dray

What's important is that you can be a wife and mother or you can be a devoted daughter all your life. You can't be both. Not when Thomas Jefferson is your father. You have to choose, Patsy. His — Stephanie Dray

I was startled by his touch. I hadn't realized he was so close to me, because I seemed so far from myself. — Stephanie Dray

There are only three kinds of ink that rulers use to write their stories. Sweat, blood, or tears. So choose your ink carefully, because one day Anubis will weigh your heart upon on a scale. If your heart is black and heavy with sin, it will go to the crocodiles in the hour of judgment. But if you're faithful, Isis offers immortality. — Stephanie Dray

From tattered flags and uniforms to friendships strained to the brink, the women of my country had always been the menders to all the things torn asunder. But now we'd do more than patch with needle and thread. We'd have to weave together a whole tapestry of American life with nothing but our own hands, our own crops, and our own ingenuity. And I would prove myself able to the task. There — Stephanie Dray

Why was it that women were expected to restrain our every passion for the sake of propriety, but men couldn't do it even for the sake of the women they loved? — Stephanie Dray

Need me. Need me the way a woman is meant to need her husband. — Stephanie Dray

Like the sun and the moon, we were always meant to be in the same sky. — Stephanie Dray

When the heart finds its one true desire, any separation and delay is unbearable. — Stephanie Dray

It pains me to be an embarrassment to you, but I don't know how to remedy my flaws. All I know is that whenever I feel strongly compelled to act, a doubt always arises. And whereas the voice of reason is low and persuasive, passion is loud and imperious. — Stephanie Dray

The spirit of independence! Every man who bore arms in this revolution now considers himself on the same footing as his neighbor. I tell you, Jefferson, the spirit of independence has been converted to the abominable idea of equality. — Stephanie Dray

Selene's life is a lesson to us that the trajectory of women's equality hasn't always been a forward march. In some ways the ancients were more advanced than we are today; there have been setbacks before and may be more in the future. — Stephanie Dray

This was, I thought, why love was so dangerous. I searched for the right words, when a certain warmth stole over me at the realization that her happiness was more important than fear. Even if she left me ... — Stephanie Dray

And I reminded myself that a woman should be able to dress as she liked without a man hurting her ... — Stephanie Dray

Patsy, suffering strengthens our constitutions and builds inner fortifications so that we never fall prey to the same agony twice. We must take upon ourselves a smaller evil to defend against the greater evil. We must take upon ourselves a smaller pain in order to survive." I — Stephanie Dray

They'll try to make you forget who you are or try to make you ashamed. But you mustn't forget and you mustn't be ashamed. — Stephanie Dray

My father was a scientist, a scholar, and a Virginia gentleman, — Stephanie Dray

The heart swellings convince me of the folly of those who dare to think that any new ties can weaken the first and best of nature. — Stephanie Dray

Spoken words fail me where my pen rarely does. — Stephanie Dray

I'll tell you a secret about being happy, Tom. Sometimes you just have to pretend at it until it becomes real. — Stephanie Dray

For the first time in my life, I understood that a lie could protect those I loved. My — Stephanie Dray

Tell your papa I'll call upon him soon. Mr. Jefferson is still very much needed here in Paris, where his revolution remains undone. In my study, I have a copy of his Declaration of Independence in half a frame. The other half of the frame is empty. One day, with his help, it will house a Declaration of French Rights and they'll stand side by side, like proud brothers. Like France and America. Like your father and me." Ordinarily, — Stephanie Dray

Am I fated to have the men I've loved torment me in my weakest moments? — Stephanie Dray