Putney Quotes & Sayings

Men are imperfect creatures, aren't they? But they are the only opposite sex we have, so we must make the best of them. — Mary Jo Putney

What one loves in childhood stays in the heart forever. — Mary Jo Putney

Thomas Cromwell is now about fifty years old. He has a labourer's body, stocky, useful, running to fat. He has black hair, greying now, and because of his impermeable skin, which seems designed to resist rain as well as sun, people sneer that his father was an Irishman, though really he was a brewer and a blacksmith at Putney, a shearsman too, a man with a finger in every pie, a scrapper and a brawler, a drunk and a bully, a man often hauled before the justices for punching someone, for cheating someone. How the son of such a man has achieved his present eminence is a question all Europe asks. — Hilary Mantel

And certainly unchristian, to hate someone for the color of his skin, yet such trivial things can change the pattern of a life. — Mary Jo Putney

bullet wound will do." Gordon — Mary Jo Putney

Winning her would be like coaxing a butterfly to land on his hand. Patience, gentleness, and perhaps a prayer or two would be required. — Mary Jo Putney

But why, she thought wryly, did a man seem more attractive as he became less available? How humbling to think one had so much in common with a cow stretching its neck through a gate for better grass. — Mary Jo Putney

[On New York City:] From a dating point of view, it's like a really large rummage sale - lots of strange items, but darned little that you'd want to take home. — Mary Jo Putney

Heresy is just philosophy that the establishment doesn't approve of, — Mary Jo Putney

The center of the world is where I place my feet. — M.J. Putney

Competence is a great creator of confidence. — Mary Jo Putney

If you allow an experienced man of the world to introduce you to passion when you want him more than he wants you, he will own your soul, but you will not own his. — Mary Jo Putney

What a joy Mary Jo Putney is to read; she can't write fast enough for me. — Laura Kinsale

Something must be done about the food."
Seeing his speculative glance Clare laid down her fork and gave him a warning scowl. "Yes, I'm a good cook, but I will not have time to work in the kitchen. And don't try to convince me that a mistress also has to cook for her lover."
"I wasn't thinking of wasting your valuable time in the kitchen." He smiled mischievously. "But a mistress can do interesting thing with food. Shall I describe them?"
"No!"
"Another time, perhaps. — Mary Jo Putney

A witty vicar once said that a good marriage is like a pair of scissors with the couple inseparable joined, often moving in opposite directions, yet always destroying anyone who comes between them. The trick is for the blades to learn to work smoothly together, so as not to cut each other. — Mary Jo Putney

Gentlemen do not work. Since I do not work, therefore I must be a gentleman. — Mary Jo Putney

I think that marriage is always the triumph of hope over fear. — Mary Jo Putney

She always imagined the Father, Son, Holy Spirit, and Blessed Mother as points of light in the center of her heart, and as she prayed, the light expanded, flowing through her body and soul, smoothing away knots of guilt and sorrow and fear until her whole being glowed with harmony. — Mary Jo Putney

Not a savage - a barbarian. Savages know nothing of civilization. We barbarians know what civilization is, though we may have a low opinion of it. Peregrine's tone was distinctly ironic. — Mary Jo Putney

He thinks, if you were born in Putney, you saw the river every day, and imagined it widening out to the sea. Even if you had never seen the ocean you had a picture of it in your head from what you had been told by foreign people who sometimes came upriver. You knew that one day you would go out into a world of marble pavements and peacocks, of hillsides buzzing with heat, the fragrance of crushed herbs rising around you as you walked. You planned for what your journeys would bring you: the touch of warm terra-cotta, the night sky of another climate, alien flowers, the stone-eyed gaze of other people's saints. But if you were born in Aslockton, in flat fields under a wide sky, you might just be able to imagine Cambridge: no farther. — Hilary Mantel

You don't have to be crazy to be a writer, but it certainly does help — Mary Jo Putney

The only power she wanted over him was the power to make him happy ... She wanted them to be equal in their loving, not master and slave. — Mary Jo Putney

Life is a good deal more comfortable if one doesn't expect it to be fair. — Mary Jo Putney

M. J. Putney has created true magic with this book, the kind that comes when you curl up in a comfortable armchair and let the story take your imagination away. Come visit an enchanted eighteenth-century England and meet two desperate lovers caught in the web of a sinister lord with great magical power. Romantic and lyrical, this tale will fill your reading time with pleasure. I loved it. — Catherine Asaro

I love Christmas. A time to slow down and enjoy life and be with my family and friends. In busy years, it keeps me sane. In bad years, it makes me feel whole again. — Mary Jo Putney

She made a purring sound in her throat and pressed into his palm, — Mary Jo Putney

Trees can grow from tiny cracks in stony cliffs, Kate. This may be a very small crack indeed - but it's a beginning. — Mary Jo Putney

Don't need a knife or gun or poison to break a man's heart. — Mary Jo Putney

Michael is easier to understand - he had to believe in Caroline. To betray a friend was despicable - to acknowledge that he had done so for a woman who was utterly unworthy — Mary Jo Putney

To love and be loved is the most powerful of human needs
Clare Morgan — Mary Jo Putney

Europeans condemned Chinese foot binding, but any society that had invented the corset had a lot to answer for. — Mary Jo Putney

I believe in love
Nicholas Davies - Earl of Aberdare — Mary Jo Putney

I don't know what you hope for in a husband, but if it is to be loved ... well, I think it would be very easy to fall in love with you. — Mary Jo Putney

I've always thought of this city as Disneyland for adults ... There's no danger of Las Vegas expiring from an excess of good taste. — Mary Jo Putney

But I'm so very glad that my resistance was futile! — Mary Jo Putney

behind the anger, she saw that he loved her, — Mary Jo Putney

Children often sang, adults seldom. At what age did the singing stop? — Mary Jo Putney

Jack was unexpectedly moved when he swore allegiance to the king and country. He had served both for years, could easily have laid down his life. Yet it was different to pledge his loyalty and best efforts toward governing this nation. Dying was easier than making good laws. — Mary Jo Putney

Small pleasures are the best because they're everywhere. Anyone who needs grand spectacles is destined to be disappointed much of the time. — Mary Jo Putney

I remember once going to see him [Ramanujan] when he was lying ill at Putney. I had ridden in taxi-cab No. 1729, and remarked that the number seemed to me rather a dull one, and that I hoped it was not an unfavourable omen. "No," he replied, "it is a very interesting number; it is the smallest number expressible as a sum of two cubes in two different ways." — G.H. Hardy

If he chose, he could help this girl, but what was the point of saving one little whore? It would make no difference to that vast, endless, tragic horde of broken children.
But as Jenny stared at him with great stark eyes, he knew that it would make a difference to her. — Mary Jo Putney

Worry is throwing good shillings at trouble that hasn't happened yet. — Mary Jo Putney

A certain skill at billiards is the mark of a gentleman, but to play too well is the sign of a misspent youth.
Lucien Fairchild — Mary Jo Putney

What a pity that men couldn't find such satisfactions without killing so many of their fellows. — Mary Jo Putney

Once you can fake sincerity, you can fake anything. — Mary Jo Putney

There was deep truth in the fact that men spoke of Holy Mother Church, for the Church was the force of civilization and compassion among nations, just as women brought mercy and gentleness to men. — Mary Jo Putney

Some fusty fellow, perhaps Samuel Johnson, had once said that every man was sorry if he hadn't been a soldier. She — Mary Jo Putney

And with the deftness of a thief, he was picking the lock of her willpower. — Mary Jo Putney

We all grow up thinking our parents found us under cabbage leaves and that sex didn't exist before our personal coming-of-age. — Mary Jo Putney

If death is inevitable, one should try to die well. — Mary Jo Putney

Because you loved, you promised. You must try harder to keep that promise. — Mary Jo Putney

Form, not the crashing waves far below at the base of the cliff. She looked eerily like the sketch that Kenneth had drawn of — Mary Jo Putney

Principles are sometimes an unaffordable luxury. — Mary Jo Putney

Books had been invented to salve human loneliness, and they were friends without peer, friends who never sneered or flinched or laughed behind a man's back. Books revealed their treasures to all who took the effort to seek. — Mary Jo Putney

Enigmatic - the quality of keeping silent and making people wonder if one is stupid rather than opening one's mouth and removing all doubt. — Mary Jo Putney

Disdain for authority is the bedrock of my character. — Mary Jo Putney

If I have an ambition, it's to leave the world a little better than I found it. — Mary Jo Putney

Mikhal - ... most of all, I want to be the man that I am only when I am with you — Mary Jo Putney

He'd known the headland was undercut from years of waves and weather, but he hadn't expected to trigger its complete collapse. Shoving the wall over had been merely an attempt to complicate the situation. He'd never imagined ... this. — Mary Jo Putney

M. J. Putney's writing has always been magical; now that she has turned her hand to the telling of a fantasy tale, it sparkles on the page. Stolen Magic has to be one of the most delightful reads of the year, a witty, finely crafted tale that enchants from beginning to end. As always, Putney's intelligent wordsmithery, scholarship, eye for detail, and ability to bring to life irresistible characters add up to enjoyment on every page. Fast-moving and fun! — Elizabeth Haydon

But she had never known that a man could want a woman and not take her because he did care. There was something very fragile and precious in the idea, though she didn't really understand it. Maybe someday she would. — Mary Jo Putney

I don't usually look back. When I make foolish decisions, I file the consequences under lessons learned and tell myself not to be stupid in the same way again. — Mary Jo Putney

I'm not actually posh; I'm really rough and from the wrong side of the tracks. I grew up in Putney, which is pretty rough. — Jack Whitehall

I was raised to assume that wealth and rank and privilege would be mine by right," he said painfully. "Through a combination of bad luck and bad judgment, most of those assumptions were beaten out of me. While other young gentlemen raced horses and chased opera dancers, I learned that the world grants no rights beyond the chance to struggle for survival." His mouth twisted. "In the army I was flogged, wore rags, and damned near starved to death. I was forced to face every flaw and weakness in myself, and to learn the harsh lesson that men born to whores and raised in the gutter could be stronger, braver, and more honorable than I — Mary Jo Putney

My brother said that at Eton, students were told caning builds character. I suppose girls are caned less because we aren't thought to have much character."
"Which is the sort of thing males say when they don't know any women. — Mary Jo Putney

The most we can ever do is our best," she said quietly. "If worry is interest paid on troubles we haven't had yet, guilt is pain wasted on what can't be changed."
"Please remind me of that regularly. I need to hear it. — Mary Jo Putney

Softly he continued, "You need to ask God for forgiveness. That's His job, isn't it? To forgive imperfect humankind. You are quick to forgive others and offer them kindness. Do the same for yourself. — Mary Jo Putney

Samuel Johnson said a second marriage is the triumph of hope over experience, Kirkland said. — Mary Jo Putney

Mary Jo Putney is a gifted writer with an intuitive understanding of what makes romances work. I loved Silk and Shadows, couldn't put it down, and don't think readers will, either. — Jayne Ann Krentz

Parents and children were put on earth to give each other grief. You were my punishment for how I behaved to my own father. And I'll have my revenge when you have children of your own. — Mary Jo Putney

His sister Kat, her husband, Morgan Williams, have been plucked from this life as fast as his daughters were taken, one day walking and talking and next day cold as stones, tumbled into their Thames-side graves and dug in beyond reach of the tide, beyond sight and smell of the river; deaf now to the sound of Putney's cracked church bell, to the smell of wet ink, of hops, of malted barley, and the scent, still animal, of woolen bales; dead to the autumn aroma of pine resin and apple candles, of soul cakes baking. — Hilary Mantel

I love you," he gasped. "For always." "And I love you," she whispered as tears filled her eyes. He rolled on his side and drew her close, his arms sheltering against the storm that pounded on London. The sky itself wept because they loved each other, and it wasn't enough. As — Mary Jo Putney

Like cats and ice cream, showers were among life's simple, uncomplicated pleasures. — Mary Jo Putney

Your precocity delighted everyone who met you even when you were behaving like a limb of Satan. — Mary Jo Putney

But gratitude would not have me love you as I do. Love was inspired by what you are - the good, the bad, and even the foolish, which is what you're being right now. — Mary Jo Putney