Quotes from Theodora Goss

MARY: I don't think you have dulcet tones. Dulcet means sweet. When are you ever sweet? CATHERINE: My most dulcet tones. I was using the superlative. Everyone has a most something, even if it's not very much. BEATRICE: I think Catherine can be quite sweet when she wants to. CATHERINE: I just don't want to very often.

But then she put her hands on Mary's shoulders and kissed both her cheeks. Well, Mary didn't mind. Irene was the most interesting woman she had ever met. They were not in competition, but if they had been, she would happily have lost to Irene Norton.

MARY: How in the world are our readers going to know who Miss Jenks is? She was only in the first book. CATHERINE: Then they should go back and read the first book. It's only two shillings, at bookshops and train stations. I would have mentioned that, but you told me to stop advertising!

The only thing worth thinking about, when I write a story, is whether I like it, whether I want to write it, whether it excites me.

She would sip an elderflower tisane and he would drink a dark, aromatic espresso.

I am improbable, am I not? Almost, but not quite, impossible.

MARY: Catherine! Is it necessary to include such a detail? CATHERINE: Do you expect our readers to believe that we had no bodily needs or functions for entire days at a time? MARY: No, but such things are simply—unstated. They go without saying. CATHERINE: It's very fashionable now to include realistic details, no matter how unpleasant or improper. Look at the French writers. Look at Émile Zola. MARY: We are not French.

this was going to be easy peasy.

MARY: Renaissance, not medieval. Most of the castle was built during the sixteenth century, although I believe its foundations date from the fourteenth. CATHERINE: And our readers will care why? MARY: You may not care for accuracy, but I do—and Carmilla will, when she reads this book. CATHERINE: If I ever get the damn thing written, with all these interruptions!

My name is Carmilla," said the woman. "I've come from Mina, in Budapest. I think it's time you were rescued from this place. Don't you think?

She leaned over and kissed Carmilla, evidently meaning to kiss her cheek, but at the last moment Carmilla turned her head an they kissed each other on the lips. Laura laughed. It startled Mary - what was the relationship between these two women?

As far as Catherine was concerned, autumn in England proved that if God did exist, He was an actively malevolent deity.

It's very confusing, being all of yourself. You'll find it quite uncomfortable for a while. But you'll get used to it. We all do.

They are some of the most powerful narratives human beings have produced, about what we most want (beauty, home, bread) and fear (darkness, abandonment, being devoured), which is why they keep being retold and reconfigured.

This obsession with knowledge at the expense of human life, of ordinary human relations and pursuits, will destroy you

Write it however you want to, but start writing!

I would not trust too much to Watson's accounts of me,' said Holmes, 'he's liable to exaggerate.' He fired one shot.

Mr. Prendick, do as I instructed, or I will have the significant pleasure of shooting you.

You would not lie—you are almost incapable of it. Your disposition would not allow such a thing.

I couldn't sleep in this racket.' 'That's birds and crickets,' she said smiling. 'Yeah, well, give me pigeons and cabs rattling across cobblestones and cabbies swearing. This green stuff's alright in its place, and that place is a park. Bloody blooming hell, something's just stung me!' In front of them, Joe snorted. 'What does he know? He wouldn't last half a day in London,' said Charlie.

DIANA: Mary's right. Give me London any day. It may smell of sewage, but it's our sewage.

DIANA: Mary's right. Give me London any day. It may smell of sewage, but it's our sewage. CATHERINE: Well I can't possibly think of a higher recommendation than that. DIANA: That's sarcasm, right?

How can you expect women to exercise their faculties, nay, their rights, in clothes that confine them? We shall never be men's equals while we lace ourselves into ill health and drape ourselves in fabric until we can scarcely move. Dress reform is almost as important to our cause as the vote.

Moreau made me, but Edward taught me to be human.