Quotes from Diana Gabaldon

Toulouse-Lautrec syndrome. I had never seen a case before, but I had heard it described. Named for its most famous sufferer (who did not yet exist, I reminded myself), it was a degenerative disease of bone and connective tissue. Victims often appeared normal, if sickly, until their early teens, when the long bones of the legs, under the stress of bearing a body upright, began to crumble and collapse upon themselves.

well-expressed opinion is usually better than a badly expressed fact, so far as professional advancement goes.

You mustn't hit him again, Grand-père," Germain said earnestly, breaking the silence. "He's a very good man, and I'm sure he won't take Grannie to bed anymore, now that you're home to do it.

There was a sudden whoosh from above, followed immediately by a blur before my eyes and a dull thud. Captain Randall was on the ground at my feet, under a heaving mass that looked like a bundle of old plaid rags. A brown, rocklike fist rose out of the mass and descended with considerable force, meeting decisively with some bony protuberance, by the sound of the resultant crack. The Captain's struggling legs, shiny in tall brown boots, relaxed quite suddenly. I

Well, legends are many-legged beasties, aye? But they generally have at least one foot on the truth.

massive edifice, with its impenetrable walls, its monumental gate, and its red-coated guards, I began to have doubts. "What

the greylag mate for life? If ye kill a grown goose, hunting, ye must always wait, for the mate will come to mourn. Then ye must try to kill the second, too, for otherwise it will grieve itself to death, calling through the skies for the lost one.

But then, I didn't think I'd tell them you were here." "What makes you think they don't know?" I asked, beginning to feel rather hollow, despite my earlier resolve to brazen it out. I cast a quick glance at the window, but

While Fergus was possessed of dark good looks and a dashing manner that might well win a young girl's heart, he lacked a few of the things that might appeal somewhat more to conservative Scottish parents, such as property, income, a left hand, and a last name.

exposure to a two-year-old boy was probably the best possible object lesson in the dangers of motherhood

And I have wondered often, was I master in my soul, or did I become the slave of my own blade?

Amo, amas, I love a lass, As cedar tall and slender; Sweet cowslip's grace Is her nominative case, And she's o' the feminine gender.

that to sleep, actually sleep with someone did give this sense of intimacy, as though your dreams had flowed out of you to mingle with his and fold you both in a blanket of unconscious knowing. A

I thought that was perhaps how some ghosts were made; where a will and a purpose had survived, heedless of the frail flesh that fell by the wayside, unable to sustain life long enough. I

For I give ye my spirit, 'til our life shall be done.

You will never satisfy a woman," she said softly. "Any woman who shared your bed will leave after no more than a single night, cursing you." "Very likely, madam," he said. "Good night.

have always kent what it is to love a man—be he husband or brother, lover or son. A dangerous business; that's what it is. Men go where they will, they do as they must; it is not a woman's part to bid them stay, nor yet to reproach them for being what they are—or for not coming back.

There are things that I canna tell you, at least not yet. And I'll ask nothing of ye that ye canna give me. But what I would ask of ye—when you do tell me something, let it be the truth. And I'll promise ye the same. We have nothing now between us, save—respect, perhaps. And I think that respect has maybe room for secrets, but not for lies. Do ye agree?

We come and go from mystery and, in between, we try to forget. But a breeze passing in a still room stirs my hair now and then in soft affection. I think it is my mother.

I swear by the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the holy iron that I hold, to give ye my fealty and pledge ye my loyalty to the name of the clan MacKenzie. If ever my hand shall be raised against ye in rebellion, I ask that this holy iron shall pierce my heart.

Stephan's hand left his breast, and reached out. Grey took it, and felt love flow between them. He thought that heart and body must be entirely melted - if only for that moment.

Often people who are very ill, but are near their birthday, seem to wait until it's passed before dying. I

He was right, of course. Bloody man, he was almost always right.

The small, homely scar of a smallpox vaccination. Rain