Charmingly Quotes & Sayings

My dear boy, no woman is a genius. Women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly. Women represent the triumph of matter over mind, just as men represent the triumph of mind over morals. — Oscar Wilde

It was not said amiss by Antisthenes, when people told him that one Ismenias was an excellent piper, "It may be so," said he, "but he is but a wretched human being, otherwise he would not have been an excellent piper." And king Philip, to the same purpose, told his son Alexander, who once at a merry-meeting played a piece of music charmingly and skilfully, "Are you not ashamed, son, to play so well?" For it is enough for a king or prince to find leisure sometimes to hear others sing, and he does the muses quite honor enough when he pleases to be but present, while others engage in such exercises and trials of skill. He who busies himself in mean occupations produces, in the very pains he takes about things of little or no use, an evidence against himself of his negligence and indisposition to what is really good. — Plutarch

Mara leans over and whispers in my ear, I know you're charmingly naive when it comes to matters of the heart, but you just stopped him in his tracks. — Rae Carson

I'm just charmingly decorative. — Tellulah Darling

The earl got up and paced to the window. Anna and Dev were on the terrace, and she was smiling at something he'd said. Dev's smile was flirtatious and a little wistful - charmingly so, damn the scoundrel. — Grace Burrowes

And while seeing Trent in his tighty-whities would make my decade, I'd found out long ago that I couldn't stay mad at a man wearing nothing but underwear. They looked so charmingly vulnerable. — Kim Harrison

it grinned the foolish and charmingly witless grin of all dogs who had ever ridden shotgun in such a fashion. In — Dean Koontz

Love between women could take on a new shape in the late nineteenth century because the feminist movement succeeded both in opening new jobs for women, which would allow them independence, and in creating a support group so that they would not feel isolated and outcast when they claimed their independence. ... The wistful desire of Clarissa Harlowe's friend, Miss Howe, "How charmingly might you and I live together," in the eighteenth century could be realised in the last decades of the nineteenth century. If Clarissa Harlowe had lived about a hundred and fifty years later, she could have gotten a job that would have been appropriate for a woman of her class. With the power given to her by independence and the consciousness of a support group, Clarissa as a New Woman might have turned her back on both her family and Lovelace, and gone to live "charmingly" with Miss Howe. Many women did. — Lillian Faderman

Music is another lady that talks charmingly and says nothing. — Austin O'Malley

Establishment. In 1966, the Dutch geologist M. G. Rutten could write, in a charmingly antiquated style that has passed forever from the scientific journals: — Nick Lane

These exchanges are reported without comment by the East Roman historian Theophylact Simocatta (charmingly, his surname means 'the one-eyed cat'). — Peter Heather

Before Simon could answer, he heard the sound of the front door opening. He looked daggers at Jace. "That's my roommate. Kyle. Be nice." Jace smiled charmingly. "I'm always nice. — Cassandra Clare

He reminded me of all the golden boys I'd known in my life- classically handsome and charmingly sure of his place at the very top of the heap, confident that the world was his and that he was safe in it, without ever having considered otherwise. — Cheryl Strayed

Nor is a day lived if the dawn is left out of it, with the prospects it opens. Who speaks charmingly of nature or of mankind, like him who comes bibulous of sunrise and the fountains of waters? — Amos Bronson Alcott

Women are a decorative sex. They never have anything to say, but they say it charmingly. — Oscar Wilde

He had a fund of small talk, a pleasant voice, a caressing glance and his moustache was irresistible. Crisp and curly, it curved charmingly over his lip, fair with auburn tints, slightly paler where it bristled at the ends. — Guy De Maupassant

Ah, I do so love this charmingly rustic, elvin kingdom!-Baozhai — Mar Mai

To the degree that one relates sensitively, appropriately, and even charmingly, to the people and events faced in business and personal life, success will follow. — Herman L Glaess

This seems charmingly paradoxical: scientists seek one truth but often voice many opinions; journalists often speak of many truths while voicing a uniform view. — Christopher Essex

I had been waiting to get Angus alone, and he appeared a little apprehensive about the occurrence when I discreetly said, 'Angus, my fine young man.' I smiled charmingly. Now he knew something was up, for certain. 'You wouldn't know how to build a bomb by any chance would you?'
He looked around sheepishly, 'Is this a trick question?'
I sighed impatiently, 'You're not going to get in trouble Angus.'
His shoulders dropped and he grinned wolfishly, 'Well in that case ... doesn't everyone? — Teresa Schulz

ATTRIBUTE, TERM, SUBJECT, PREDICATE, PARTICULAR, UNIVERSAL
charmingly useful, if any friend should happen to ask if you have ever studied Logic. Mind you bring all seven words into your answer, and you friend will go away deeply impressed
'a sadder and a wiser — Lewis Carroll

He laid her down on the mattress, his eyes never leaving her charmingly disheveled form as he methodically stripped off his clothing. First his gloves, one by one, then his coat, already rumpled by his ardor.
He caught her eyes, dark and large and filled with wonder, and he smiled, slowly and with satisfaction. "You've never seen a naked man before, have you?" he murmured.
She shook her head.
"Good." He leaned forward and plucked one of her slippers from her foot. "You'll never see another."
-Anthony & Kate — Julia Quinn

Hours later, Adam proped himself up on an elbow and stared down at Gabrielle, pondering what made beauty. He thought he was beginning to understand. It wasn't symmetry of features; it wasn't perfection. It was uniqueness. That which one person had that no other possessed. That which was only their own. Perhaps Gabrielle's nose was like a thousand others, but they weren't on her face, with her eyes, with her cheekbones and hair. Nor were those noses graced with her many expressions, crinkling so charmingly when she laughed, flaring so haughtily when she was irritated. — Karen Marie Moning

Darling, you can nail my ass anytime, he said charmingly, and turned to go back to his table. — Charlaine Harris

Garfield were tasked with disentangling and arranging the fairy lights on the tree and, as she had requested, Rosamunde was granted the honour of placing the charmingly — Rebecca Boxall

He was playing on the climbing structure by himself - or "by his own," as the children sometimes charmingly put it. — Claire Messud

At times young man, you tread a precariously thin line between being charmingly headstrong and insufferably pigheaded. ( ... ) Miss Bloom, would you fetch my flask of coca-wine? It seems I won't be sleeping tonight and I shall have to indulge if I am to keep awake. — Ransom Riggs

Sookie: "Eric, when I'm back to being myself, I'm going to nail your ass for putting me in this position of being pledged to you." Eric: Darling, you can nail my ass anytime," he said charmingly, and turned to go back to his table. Pam rolled her eyes. "You two," she said. "Hey this isn't any of my doing," I said, which wasn't entirely true. But it was a good exit line, and I took advantage of it to leave the bar. — Charlaine Harris

Your fans, they love you erratic, charmingly gut-shot.
They place the rose in your teeth, and you live off the thorns. — Shay Caroline

Differences of age or of race may set up postitions of manufactured superiority: the manual worker from Germany flies to Thailand and because of the historical advantage of his economy and exchange rate, feels and behaves like a millionaire. The plodding Englishman arrives in a small North American town and, simply on account of his exotic accent, may be welcomed as charmingly original and sophisticated. — Alain De Botton

The one charm of the past is that it is the past. But women never know when the curtain has fallen. They always want a sixth act, and as soon as the interest of the play is entirely over, they propose to continue it. If they were allowed their own way, every comedy would have a tragic ending, and every tragedy would culminate in a farce. They are charmingly artificial, but they have no sense of art. — Oscar Wilde

your entire life has been a succession of things you were not equipped for, and while you may have, as you so charmingly say, 'screwed some of them up,' you have, in the main, come through spectacularly well. You are surrounded by allies, and each of us is, in our own way, uniquely suited to the challenges ahead - as are you, or you wouldn't be here. — Seanan McGuire

Do you like flora and fauna? How about plants and animals? Because we have more of that beautiful crap than we know what to do with. Charmingly domesticated troops of monkeys swing freely throughout our orchid-laden property. You're probably thinking that a lot of all-inclusive resorts have monkeys. True, but only one resort packs a monkey for each of their guests to take home. You'll be showing off more than a tan to your friends, you'll be showing off a gibbon. — Colin Nissan

Papa wants you to marry some decrepit old wigsby?" She gave him a charmingly rueful smile, all tousled golden curls like some angel who had rolled off a cloud in her sleep, he thought, and had fallen to earth with a thud. "Something like that," she said in vague amusement. "I see. Well, surely we can find a solution." He snapped his fingers and gave her a grin. "Shall I ruin you? That should solve your problem. The old wigsby won't want you if you're used goods, and I assure you, I'd be happy to oblige. — Gaelen Foley

I hated the things they believe in, the things they so innocently and charmingly pretended. I hated the sanctimonious piety that let people hurt helpless creatures. I hated the prayers and the hymns - the fountains and the red images that coloured their drab music, the fountains filled with blood, the sacrifice of the lamb. — Ellen Glasgow

You tread a precariously thin line between being charmingly headstrong and insufferably pigheaded. — Ransom Riggs

Thinking of Rooie, he was not entirely alone. He'd even chosen a hotel that he thought Rooie would have liked. Although it was not the most expensive hotel in Zurich, it was too expensive for a cop. But Harry had traveled so little that he'd saved a fair amount of money. He didn't expect the 2nd District to pay for his room at the Hotel Zum Storchen, not even for one night, yet that was where he wanted to stay. It was a charmingly romantic hotel on the banks of the Limmat, and Harry chose a room that looked across the river at the floodlit Rathaus. — John Irving

The ladies egged him on; in Eve's name, they dared him; so he made love with discreet verbs and light nouns, delicate conjunctions. They begged; they defied him to define ... define everything. They could not be scandalized - impossible, they said. Indecent prepositions such as in, on, up, merely made them smile, and the roundest exclamation broke upon them like a bubble's kiss, a butterfly's. Smooth and creamy adjectives enabled them to lick their lips upon the crudest story. How charmingly you speak, Reverend Furber, how much you've seen of this wicked world, and how alive you are to it, they said. — William H Gass

it. But I don't want money. It is only people who pay their bills who want that, Uncle George, and I never pay mine. Credit is the capital of a younger son, and one lives charmingly upon it. Besides, — Oscar Wilde

A single boot dangled loosely from his hand, and once in front of Rachel he raised it high above the table top and let go. It struck the beautifully polished oak with a resounding thunk, sending a puff of dust into the filtered air of the boardroom and scattering a residue of dried mud and gravel across the table. "Yours, I believe, Ms. Jennings-Porter," he said, charmingly straight-faced. — Cheryl Cooke Harrington

I was a little drunk. Not drunk in any positive sense, but just enough to be careless.
"For God's sake," I said, "yes, don't you?"
"Oh, how charmingly you get angry," he said. "I wish I had that faculty. — Ernest Hemingway,

What a wonderful song, she thought-everything was wonderful tonight, most of all this romantic scene in the den with their hands clinging and the inevitable looming charmingly close. The future vista of her life seemed an unending succession of scenes like this: under moonlight and pale starlight, and in the backs of warm limousines and in low cosy roadsters stopped under sheltering trees-only the boy might change, and this one was so nice. — F Scott Fitzgerald

It's good for the soul to hear yourself as others hear you, and next time maybe, just maybe, you will not talk so much, so loudly, so brilliantly, so charmingly, so utterly shamelessly foolishly. — Russell Baker

David (David Foster Wallace) had a caffeine social gift: Her was charmingly, vividly, overwhelmingly awake - he acted on other people like a slug of coffee - so they're the five most sleepless days I every spent with anyone. — David Lipsky

Let no one read my principles who is not a mathematician," he famously declared (less famous is the fact that the principles he was referring to were his theories of how the aortic pulmonary valve worked). Ironically, he himself was a poor mathematician, often making simple mistakes. In one of his notes he counted up his growing library: "25 small books, 2 larger books, 16 still larger, 6 bound in vellum, 1 book with green chamois cover." This reckoning (with its charmingly haphazard system of classification) adds up to fifty, but Leonardo reached a different sum: "Total: 48," he confidently declared. — Ross King

I stood up, suddenly very upset, and took a step away from him. Philip grabbed the hem of my gown. "Wait," he said, laughing. I looked down at him, my hands clenched into fists. "Please don't leave," he said, a cajoling smile turning his lips up charmingly. "I won't do it again." Well, at least he knew why I was upset. But the idea of him not doing it again? Hah! I raised an eyebrow in deep skepticism. "In the next five minutes," he added with a chuckle. — Julianne Donaldson

It was Nathaniel's boundless capacity for stating the obvious that made him so charmingly human. — Jonathan Stroud