One of the joys of writing historical fiction is the chance to read as much as you like on a pet subject - so much that you could easily bore your friends senseless on the topic.

If you were a man, your ladyship, I would cordially horsewhip you for that remark.

You are curious and quick, you have a deft mind, and for some unaccountable reason, people tell you things -- useful things.

But this is a thing that I know--to live with fear is not to live at all. A man will die every moment he is afraid.

Fate is by far the greatest mystery of all.

She didn't look at me and I didn't look at her. Some questions are so direct the only way to ask them is sideways.

I see only a little, lady, but I know that your fortune is as twined with his as the ivy to the oak.

Now I was more certain than ever of my decision. I could not love a man who did not love Jane Austen.

One is not born English without knowing how to converse easily about the weather.

If one has a purpose, life is bearable enough, do you not think so?

I adored history, not the dry dates and boring battles, but the stories and the people who populated them.

(...) always regretted that good memory often prevents us from thinking for ourselves.

We are dying from overthinking. We are slowly killing ourselves by thinking about everything. Think. Think. Think. You can never trust the human mind anyway. It's a death trap.

In order to be universal, you have to be rooted in your own culture.

The greatest development after age 21 was shown by Steinitz, who increased his rating by more than a full class interval. Steinitz was the deep student and fierce competitor to the end of his career.

I looked around. As flock leader, everyone was expecting me to make a decision. Jeb's presence here would bring uncertainty, chaos, probably danger. It would perk up my day.

I'm a Mormon. I don't do a lot of the off-the-field activities that athletes are known to do. And I guess I've created a world that is unlike the typical world of a professional athlete.

Stop trying to find something in food that will make you feel better.

Give me a room whose every nook is dedicated to a book.

A string of reproaches against other people leads one to suspect the existence of a string of self-reproaches with the same content.

I can always, quite easily, put myself in other people's shoes, so to speak, and look at the world through them.