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1abe037
|
You'd forgive me for Claire - but not for killing your . . . men." He glanced at the two Craddocks, spotty as a pair of raisin puddings and - Grey's look implied - likely no brighter."
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war
lord-john
jamie-fraser
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Diana Gabaldon |
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7a785e2
|
Once I had thought I was whole -- had seemed to be able to love a man, to bear a child, to heal the sick--and know that all these things were natural parts of me, not the difficult, troubled fragments into which my life had now disintegrated. But that had been in the past, the man I had loved was Jamie, and for a time, I had been part of something greater than myself.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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8ee56d2
|
Deftly whipping a small tuning fork from his pocket, he struck it smartly against a pillar and held it next to Jamie's left ear. Jamie rolled his eyes heavenward, but shrugged and obligingly sang a note. The little man jerked back as though he'd been shot.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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bd40dbc
|
Could it be possible that he really did have enough imagination to be able to grasp the truth?
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Diana Gabaldon |
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ad88417
|
With that height, plus a face of an ugliness so transcendant as to be grotesquely beautiful, it was obvious why she had embraced a religious life--Christ was the only man from whom she might expect embrace in return.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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260df3d
|
For several days, I slept. Whether this was a necessary part of physical recovery, or a stubborn retreat from waking reality, I do not know, but I woke only reluctantly to take a little food, falling at once back into a stupor of oblivion, as though the small, warm weight of broth in my stomach were an anchor that pulled me after it, down through the murky fathoms of sleep.
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sleep
reality
recovery
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Diana Gabaldon |
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c335bbb
|
And I looked, held prisoner, bound to him. Looked, as he dropped the last of his masks, and showed me the depths of himself, and the wounds of his soul. I would have wept for his hurt, and for mine, had I been able. But his eyes held mine, tearless and open, boundless as the salt sea. His body held mine captive, driving me before his strength, like the west wind in the sails of a bark. And I voyaged into him,as he into me...
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Diana Gabaldon |
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dc2560a
|
He wished to cover her with his body, possess her-for if he could do that, he could pretend to himself that she was safe. Covering her so...he might protect her. Or so he felt, even knowing how senseless the feeling was.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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e580d08
|
He had learned early on the trick of living separately in a crowd, private in his mind when his body could not be. But he was born a mountain-dweller, and had learned early, too, the enchantment of solitude, and the healing of quiet places.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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b480789
|
And in the end, it does not matter. I am what God has made me, and must deal with the Times in which He has placed me.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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da944e0
|
And if she had not come back to me...if you had not come...if I had known for sure that both of you were dead...Then I would still have lived...and done what must be done. So will you.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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61d5166
|
There was only one small probelm. It wasn't Frank I reached for, deep in the night, waking out of sleep. It wasn't his smooth, lithe body that walked my dreams a roused me so that I came awake moist and gasping, my heart pounding from the half-remembered touch. But I would never touch that man again. "Jamie," I whispered. "Oh Jamie."
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frank-randall
jamie-fraser
|
Diana Gabaldon |
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1a15386
|
How many 'inventions' are really memories, of the things we once knew?
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Diana Gabaldon |
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e87b9ff
|
A general cry of "What book? What book? Let us see this famous book!"
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Diana Gabaldon |
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6587426
|
Reading is of course dry work, and further refreshment was called for and consumed.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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8ee59a6
|
I'm a man, Sassenach," he said, very softly. "If I thought there was a choice ... then I maybe couldna do it. Ye dinna need to be so brave about things if ye ken ye canna help it, aye?" He looked at me then, with a faint smile. "Like a woman in childbirth, aye? Ye must do it, and it makes no difference if you're afraid--ye'll do it. It's only when ye ken ye can say no that it takes courage."
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Diana Gabaldon |
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5007f38
|
Ian--is that by chance Ian Murray?" Grey asked, but then answered himself. "I suppose it must be; how many Mohawks can there be named Ian?"
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Diana Gabaldon |
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9d5aa98
|
Yes. It doesn't matter what happens; no matter where a child goes - how far or how long. Even if it's forever. You never lose them. You can't.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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44f5e87
|
It was a leap of faith--to throw one's heart across a gulf, and trust another to catch it.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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8e509b3
|
I had kissed my share of men, particularly during the war years, when flirtation and instant romance were the light-minded companions of death and uncertainty. Jamie, thought, was something different. His extreme gentleness was in no way tentative; rather it was a promise of power known and held in leash; a challenge and a provocation the more remarkable for its lack of demand. I am yours, it said. And if you will have me, then..
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war
honesty
love
despair
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Diana Gabaldon |
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a9db163
|
Actually, it's your kilt that makes me want to fling you to the floor and commit ravishment," I told him. "But you don't look at all bad in your breeks." [....]"Take them off," he repeated firmly. He stepped back and tugged loose the lacing of his flies. "Ye can put them back on again after, Sassenach, but if there's flinging and ravishing to be done, it'll be me that does it, aye?"
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Diana Gabaldon |
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4249379
|
Like plumbing, medicine is a profession where you learn early on not to put your fingers in your mouth.
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medicine
|
Diana Gabaldon |
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272b654
|
think it's as though everyone has a small place inside themselves, maybe, a private bit that they keep to themselves. It's like a little fortress, where the most private part of you lives--maybe it's your soul, maybe just that bit that makes you yourself and not anyone else.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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e3465c0
|
If I were a horse, I'd let him ride me anywhere.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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000884b
|
You can...call me Da," he said. His voice was husky; he stopped and cleared his throat. "If--if ye want to, I mean," "Da. Is that Gaelic?" He smiled back, the corners of his mouth trembling slightly. "No. It's only...simple." And suddenly it was all simple. He held out his arms to her. She stepped into them and found that she had been wrong;--and his arms were as strong about her as she had ever dared to hope."
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Diana Gabaldon |
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685233e
|
I've heard it said that a man's reach must exceed his grasp--or what's a heaven for?
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|
Diana Gabaldon |
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4ef66f2
|
It's only when ye ken ye can say no that it takes courage.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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ebe7680
|
Thy life's journey lies along its own path, Ian," she said, "and I cannot share thy journey - but I can walk beside thee. And I will." The woman standing behind them in the line heaved a deep, contented sigh. "Now, that's a very pretty and right thing to say, sweetheart," she said to Rachel, in approving tones. And, switching her gaze to Ian, looked him skeptically up and down. He was dressed in buckskins, clout, and calico shirt, and, bar ..
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Diana Gabaldon |
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5499bcd
|
I have noticed," she said slowly, "that time does not really exist for mothers, with regard to their children. It does not matter greatly how old the child is--in the blink of an eye, the mother can see the child again as it was when it was born, when it learned to walk, as it was at any age--at any time, even when the child is fully grown and a parent itself."
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Diana Gabaldon |
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5791d72
|
For so many years," he said, "for so long, I have been so many things, so many different men."... "But here," he said so softly I could barely hear him, "here in the dark, with you.... I have no name." I lifted my face toward his, and took the warm breath of him between my own lips. "I love you," I said, and did not need to tell him how I meant it."
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Diana Gabaldon |
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2964990
|
Then kiss me, Claire," he whispered. "And know that you are more to me than life, and I have no regret." I couldn't answer, but kissed him, first his hand, its crooked fingers warm and firm, and the brawny wrist of a sword-wielder, and then his mouth, haven and promise and anguish all mingled, and the salt of tears in the taste of him."
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Diana Gabaldon |
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ee0a954
|
Will this be the end of it?' 'There is never an end to such things,' he said quietly. 'But we are alive. And that is good.
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Diana Gabaldon |
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d18dac6
|
James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser," I said, spacing the words, formally, the way Jamie had spoken them to me when he first told me his full name on the day of our wedding."
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|
Diana Gabaldon |
|
77c42dd
|
I fought back the memory of our wedding night. He was a virgin; his hands trembled when he touched me. I had been afraid too--with better reason. And then in the dawn he had held me, naked back against his chest, his thighs warm and strong behind my own, murmuring into the clouds of my hair, "Dinna be afraid. There's two of us now."
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Diana Gabaldon |
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e06fa3d
|
I chose my way when I wed ye, though I kent it not at the time. But I chose, and cannot now turn back, even if I would.' 'Would you?' I looked into his eyes as I asked, and read the answer there. He shook his head. 'Would you? For you have chosen, as much as I.
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Diana Gabaldon |
|
6b0b833
|
I wasn't used to living crowded cheek by jowl with numbers of other people, as was customary here. People ate, slept, and frequently copulated, crammed into tiny, stifling cottages, lit and warmed by smoky peat fires. The only thing they didn't do together was bathe - largely because they didn't bathe.
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Diana Gabaldon |
|
c4520f5
|
Thought of blowing your brains out?" William blinked, startled. "No." "That's good. Anything else is bound to be an improvement, isn't it?"
|
|
humor
william-ransome
|
Diana Gabaldon |
|
ba24a4e
|
If you could do such a thing as that-and I don't mean lying with a woman, I mean doing it and lying to me about it-then everything I've done and everything I've been-my whole life-has been a lie. And I am not prepared to admit such a thing.
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|
|
Diana Gabaldon |
|
dbf71b8
|
Claire. The name knifed across his heart with a pain that was more racking than anything his body had ever been called on to withstand.
|
|
jamie-fraser
|
Diana Gabaldon |
|
c76877f
|
God, don't laugh!" Jamie said, alarmed. "I didna mean to make ye laugh! Christ, Jenny will kill me if ye cough up a lung and die out here!"
|
|
laughter
ian-murray
jamie-fraser
|
Diana Gabaldon |
|
381804a
|
and if she wasn't precisely pretty, she had a force of character that is often more attractive than simple beauty.
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|
|
Diana Gabaldon |
|
3505f79
|
Is it usual, what it is between us when I touch you?
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|
Diana Gabaldon |
|
7a8da73
|
a well-expressed opinion is usually better than a badly expressed fact,
|
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|
Diana Gabaldon |
|
3a540fd
|
marriage is made not in ritual or in words but in the living of it.
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|
Diana Gabaldon |