Victorian Romance Quotes & Sayings

Matt is a tortured soul,' Amanda insisted. 'He's Heathcliff and you're Cathy. He's Rochester and you're Jane Eyre. He's-'
'Darcy and I'm Elizabeth. I get it. And you're wrong. — Robin Brande

I'm an idiot for trying to avoid these feelings because they have caused me pain in the past. — Kellyn Roth

I would feel much better about this whole affair if you would slap me and get it over with. I know you want to. — Moriah Densley

What if all those strange and unexplainable bends in history were the result of supernatural interference? At which point I asked myself, what's the weirdest most eccentric historical phenomenon of them all? Answer:the Great British Empire. Clearly, one tiny little island could only conquer half the known world with supernatural aid. Those absurd Victorian manners and ridiculous fashions were obviously dictated by vampires. And, without a doubt, the British army regimental system functions on werewolf pack dynamics. — Gail Carriger

You're not worried about being compromised, are you?" he asked. "Because I've already done that. — Lisa Kleypas

What do ladies wear beneath their riding trousers?"
"I would think an infamous rake would already know."
"I was never infamous. In fact, I'm fairly standard as far as rakes go."
"The ones who deny it are the worst. — Lisa Kleypas

Like herbs in a pestle, life steadily ground out the essence of those who did not have access to comforts. — Sandra Byrd

The woman was not what would be termed an exquisite, or what his grandfather's generation would have styled 'a diamond of the first water.' There was something too primal in her features and her bearing, and her aura shimmered with power. She was a sunset on a mountain peak, or the eerie colors in the sky in the far north of Scotland. She was a vein of gold still glittering inside the rock, her treasure clear but held close, in her own keeping.

She would never belong to anyone but herself, and that made him long for her to share that self with him - in every conceivable way. — Cara McKinnon

Archer tries not to think of his own state of purity, physically unsullied, yet now spiritually beyond redemption, his thoughts plagued by lithe limbs and brilliant blue eyes. Doctor Archer has never really understood women, nor has he ever had time for courtship; this is a sacrifice he has willingly made for his career. He thought - believed - for most of his adult life that his vocation was to tend the sick of mind. Romance was a frivolity, carnal urges something he successfully sublimated, resisting the drive to spoil himself. Now, in the overbearing loneliness of his 4am bed he touches himself in secret, panting and hungry and stunned by shame — John T. Fuller

You have a spine of steel and fire in your eyes, Rosalie. To have such a quality, one must be shaken to the foundation of one's soul and put back together. I want to know how you emerged from hell made of steel and fire. — Moriah Densley

We men had a meeting a long time ago, and we all decided, 'It's trousers'. And that's what we've worn ever since. — Lisa Kleypas

Thinking back on the outing to the theatre, she added, 'I want a man, not a preening peacock! — Katherine Givens

Father has taught me that when something is lost, whether dear or not, giving up the search is sometimes best and often enough the lost article finds its owner. — Cassandra Krivy Hirsch

No book is written; it's always re-written — Jean Fullerton

She was shocked when she followed her aunt and cousin down into the city proper. The streets were crawling with people, all hurrying to and fro, mindless of one another. They brushed by with barely even a glance, stepping down into the busy roads between horse drawn buses and draymen's carts with such confidence, seemingly oblivious that they could be run down at any moment. Children dodged in and out amongst them, ragamuffins all, some barefoot. — Lillian White

Within the sphere of steampunk, there seems to be a rapidly growing subsphere of gadgetless 'neo-Victorian' novels, most of which attempt to recapture the romance of the era without all the sociopolitical ugliness. — N.K. Jemisin

No, not really. But ... " Okay, I couldn't help but gloat a little. "She likes me."
Samedi didn't even look at me. "Well of course, you've had that bloody uniform on all day. I was half ready to tell you how much I liked you. — Lia Habel

I am naked because I am going for a swim," he says happily. Then he laughs loudly, clutching his side. "Oh Johnny you look like an outraged Victorian chaperone. You just need a pearl necklace to clutch." He waggles his eyebrows lecherously. "I can definitely help you out with that. — Lily Morton

I don't write 'romance' stories, but character love stories, like the short story fiction published at Romantic4Ever and at WeddingNight, with romance of the heart and of adventure, in its many, many human varieties, as seen through the eyes and hearts and bodies of realist characters; whether about military special forces regiments, mail order brides in the outback, class-crossed samurai lovers, wealthy Victorian 'minorities,' or luscious vampires of another color. — Neale Sourna

Jill, a comprehensive school teacher in her early thirties, has put her dark past behind her to become a lady in control of her own life. Successful in her career, soon to be divorced and with no emotional ties, she is content. Except that one morning, while trying to find work for a recalcitrant Year 9 class, she finds herself in a dark and murky street in Victorian England. The image soon disappears and she is back in the classroom, but the children she was teaching have gone and so has an hour of her life. Soon Jill finds herself living two parallel lives, one as a teacher and the other as a Victorian governess. And this is just the beginning — Jan Hunter

I once courted a Victorian lass in old Chicago. I had to leave her, it just wasn't our time. — Dennis Higgins

I'm going to take Charity to France. I can look after her there. You can go on with your life here, and I won't be here to ... to bother anyone."
He muttered two quiet words.
"What?" she asked in bewilderment, inching forward to hear him.
"I said, try it. — Lisa Kleypas

I've come back for you, my love, my life. Let me look at you, keep you, never let go of you. — Sandra Byrd

You took Theo's title and his home," West continued in appalled disbelief, "and now you want his wife."
"His widow," Devon muttered.
"Have you seduced her?"
"Not yet."
West clapped his hand to his forehead. "Christ. Don't you think she's suffered enough? — Lisa Kleypas

The first time you went out, you became mixed up with a group of radical political terrorists."
"That could have happened to anyone! — Lisa Kleypas

It's a sin."
"How do you know?"
"Because it feels like one," she managed to say.
He laughed quietly and pulled her hips farther toward him with a decisiveness that drew a little yelp from her.
"In that case ... I never sin by half measures. — Lisa Kleypas

Sometimes people do misguided things for the most honorable of reasons. — Tamara Hughes

You are an exceedingly beautiful mystery, one that intrigues me and one that I plan to solve. — Tamara Hughes

He had an overwhelming urge to take possession of her lips, silencing any mention of another man's name. — Tamara Hughes

Here I am, ninety years old and ready for the cooling board, using a brand new Macintosh computer, and there you sit, twenty-two and gorgeous, fresh as a new peach, yet scrawling on a yellow legal pad like an old maid in a Victorian romance. — Stephen King

Every time she allowed her gaze to wander to the group at the piano, she found Lord Wentworth's eyes on her. In the end it was easier to study the patterns in the ornate rug on which her chair sat. She was glad when the evening ended. — Susan Leona Fisher

Humans are curious creatures. What we cannot see, our logical minds will try to deny. — Nancy B. Brewer

The man's hands had a terrible unsettling power over her. He didn't brush or lightly graze her skin. He stroked her, caressed her, as if he wished to give her pleasure rather than take his own. — Christy Carlyle

Dickens must have first heard his famous The law is an ass quote from a woman. And she was damned right, for all the good it did her. — Moriah Densley