Quotes from C.S. Harris

Lord Mansfield's famous decision in the 1772 Somersett case is generally considered to have essentially ended chattel slavery in England and Wales, although emancipation came gradually enough that advertisements for "runaway slaves" were still occasionally seen into the late 1780s. The decision did not apply to Scotland, where colliers and salters were still held in conditions of slavery until 1799.

They were referred to as morning calls, that endless round of formal visits that took place daily amongst the members of Society in residence in London. But the truth was that no gentleman or lady with any pretensions to breeding would dream of appearing on the doorstep of any but his or her most intimate of friends before three o'clock.

You have just broken one of the cardinal rules. One does not contradict a member of the French royal family, no matter how ridiculous or patently false their utterances may be.

Being a barrister was considered a respectable occupation for a gentleman. Because barristers could only be engaged by solicitors rather than directly by clients, barristers were not considered to be in trade, with all the vulgar associations that entailed. Thus, a barrister's wife could be presented in court, whereas the wife of a solicitor could not—

He was like a god to her. What happens when your god dies? Sebastian wondered. When someone is your sun and moon and stars, and then you discover something, something that reveals a hitherto unknown weakness so fundamental, so shattering that it destroys not only your trust in the other person, but your respect, too. Some people never recover from that kind of disillusionment.

those for whom war is lucrative are rarely satiated.

She touched her hand to his cheek, and he turned toward her, his arms coming around her to draw her close, his cheek pressed to the side of her hair. She felt his chest lift against hers as he drew in a ragged breath and held her tight. And then he said the words she'd long thought she'd never hear. "God, how I love you, Hero. So much. So much...

I've never attended a Quaker service before." "We believe that true religion is a personal encounter with God rather than a matter of ritual and ceremony, and that all aspects of life are sacramental. Therefore, no one day or place or activity is any more spiritual than any other. But we gather together at such times to discover in stillness a deeper sense of God's presence.

Do you think I don't worry about you?" "That's not—" "Not the same? Because you are a man and I am a woman?" "No. Because it's one thing for me to make the choice to put my own life in danger and something else entirely when my actions endanger someone else." She touched her fingers to his lips. "I knew what I was letting myself in for when I married you, Devlin." He smiled against her hand. "I'm not sure I did.

Sometimes he wondered if most people experienced the world around them a little bit differently from their fellows, if the assumption of commonality was simply an illusion.

Life is full of scary things," he used to tell Kat. "The trick is not to let your fears get in the way of your living. Whatever else you do, Katherine, don't settle for a life half-lived.

How do you explain a world that gifts evil men with privilege and wealth and looks the other way while they torment and abuse the weakest members of society?

Religion is important to the order of society. It reconciles the lower classes to their lot in life and teaches them to respect their betters.

She had been born with a different name, to a woman with laughing eyes and warmly whispered words of love who'd died degraded and afraid on a misty Irish morning.

When one lived a life that was, essentially, a lie, appearances were everything.

He wanted to tell her that he'd learned a man could come to love again without betraying his first love.

Christopher didn't understand that there was a fine line between seeking death and being indifferent to its occurrence.

I believe we are all connected, every living thing one to the other, so that I owe to each what I would owe to myself.

diplomacy. A dance of shadows in the darkness.

that things like 'onor, and justice, and love are the most important things in the world and that it's up to each and every one of us to always try to be the best person we can possibly be.

The truth is frequently more dangerous than a lie.

So, which of the two men do you think is telling the truth?" Sebastian asked, his gaze on her profile. "Van der Pals? Or Vescovi?" She shook her head, "I'm not convinced either of them is. Although if I had to put money on one or the other, I'd pick the Italian harpist over the decorative Dutch courtier any day.

What the bloody hell is wrong with us? What kind of society turns its back on the neediest amongst them? They call themselves Christians. They smugly go to church every Sunday and pat themselves on the back for being so damn holy. And then they allow this?

The world was full of ugliness, Sebastian knew that; ugliness, and ugly people. But you couldn't let them win, those men who took what they wanted with never a thought or care for the ones who suffered and died as a result. You could never stop fighting them, never let them think that what they did was right or somehow justified. Never let them triumph unchallenged.