It turns out that even though I’ve spent the whole summer writing a 5,000-word dissertation on Georgette Heyer, my love for the queen of historical romance is never-ending. Below, find a selection of 25 Georgette Heyer quotes on love, life, and everything in between. It was difficult to make short selections, because a lot of the humour is contained in longer scenes, but I hope you enjoy!
25 Best Georgette Heyer Quotes
- “As soon as one promises not to do something, it becomes the one thing above all others that one most wishes to do.” —Venetia
- “I daresay Freddy might not be a great hand at slaying dragons…but one has not the smallest need of a man who can kill dragons!” —Cotillion
- “You are an atrocious person! Since the day I met you I have become steadily more depraved.” —The Nonesuch
- “I comfort myself with the reflection that your wife will possibly be able to curb your desire—I admit, a natural one for the most part—to exterminate your fellows.” —Devil’s Cub
- “Do you mean to tell me that Mr. Trevor read my letter?” demanded Lady Buxted indignantly. “Your secretary?”
“I employ him to read my letters,” explained his lordship.
“Not those written by your nearest and dearest!”
“Oh, no, not them!” he agreed.” —Frederica - “Remind me one day to teach you how to achieve a sneer, Hugh. Yours is too pronounced, and thus but a grimace. It should be but a faint curl of the lips.” —These Old Shades
- “Oh, yes, she’s unusual!” he said bitterly. “She blurts out whatever may come into her head; she tumbles from one outrageous escapade into another; she’s happier grooming horses and hobnobbing with stable-hands than going to parties; she’s impertinent; you daren’t catch her eye for fear she should start to giggle; she hasn’t any accomplishments; I never saw anyone with less dignity; she’s abominable, and damnably hot at hand, frank to a fault, and—a darling!” —Sylvester
- “She decided that her wisest course would be to put him out of her mind. After reaching this conclusion she lay thinking about him until at last she fell asleep.” —The Nonesuch
- She said unsteadily: “Talking to you is like—like talking to an eel!”
“No, is it? I’ve never tried to talk to an eel. Isn’t it a waste of time?”
She choked. “Not such a waste of time as talking to you!” —Black Sheep - “I [would never] consent to her marriage with any such frippery fellow as Augustus Fawnhope!”
“Augustus,” announced Cecilia, putting up her chin, “will be remembered long after you have sunk into oblivion!”
“By his creditors? I don’t doubt it.” —The Grand Sophy - “Perhaps,” murmured his lordship, “I yielded to a compassionate impulse.”
“A what?” gasped his best friend.
“Oh, did you think I never did so?” said his lordship, the satirical glint in his eyes extremely pronounced. “You wrong me! I do, sometimes—not frequently, of course, but every now and then!” —Frederica - “Fair Fatality, you are the most unusual female I have encountered in all my thirty-eight years!”
“You can’t think how deeply flattered I am!” she assured him. “I daresay my head would be quite turned if I didn’t suspect that amongst so many a dozen or so may have slipped from your memory.” —Venetia - “You don’t feel you could marry me instead? Got no brains, of course, and I ain’t a handsome fellow, like Jack, but I love you. Don’t think I could ever love anyone else.” —Cotillion
- “I see now that there is a great deal in what Aunt Almeria says. She considers that there are terrible pitfalls in Society.”
Sir Richard shook his head sadly. “Alas, too true!”
“And vice,” said Pen awfully. “Profligacy, and extravagance, you know.”
“I know.”
She picked up her knife and fork again. “It must be very exciting,” she said enviously.” —The Corinthian - “I have seen what comes of being patient,” Amanda said with a boding look. “And I have no opinion of it.”
“What does come of it?” inquired Sir Gareth.
“Nothing!” —Sprig Muslin - “In this case,” said Randall unpleasantly, “it affords me purer gratification to dwell upon the thought of my dear Aunt Gertrude duped and betrayed.”
“Your aunt doesn’t suffer through it!”
“What a pity!” said Randall.” —Behold, Here’s Poison - “Now, that,” said Sophy, “I am very glad to know, because if ever I should desire to please you I shall know just how to set about it. I daresay I shan’t, but one likes to be prepared for any event, however unlikely.” —The Grand Sophy
- “You think I’ve got brains?” he said, awed. “Not confusing me with Charlie?”
“Charlie?” uttered Miss Charing contemptuously. “I daresay he has book-learning, but you have—you have address, Freddy!”
“Well, by Jove!” said Mr Standen, dazzled by this new vision of himself. —Cotillion - “If you imagine that I have the smallest desire to receive your hand as a reward for having performed a difficult task to your satisfaction you’re beside the bridge, my child! I’ve no fancy for a reluctant wife. I want your love, not your gratitude.” —Black Sheep
- “It has always seemed to me that if one falls in love with any gentleman one becomes instantly blind to his faults.But I am not blind to your faults, and I do not think that everything you do or say is right! Only—Is it being—not very comfortable—and cross—and not quite happy, when you aren’t there?”
“That, my darling,” said his lordship, taking her ruthlessly into his arms,“is exactly what it is!”
“Oh—!” Frederica gasped, as she emerged from an embrace which threatened to suffocate her. “Now I know! I am in love!” —Frederica - “Wonderful!” said the Duke. “We progress!”
“We…? Progress? You said we? Progress?”
“It seems I erred,” Avon sighed. “We remain at the same place.” —These Old Shades - “I don’t know how it is…but you seem to think me something wonderful, and indeed, I am not.” —The Masqueraders
- “I can’t imagine what possessed you to propose to me.”
“Well, that will give you something to puzzle over any time you can’t sleep.” —Behold, Here’s Poison - “It was growing late, and though one might stand on the brink of a deep chasm of disaster, one was still obliged to dress for dinner.” —April Lady
- “I was under the impression that I warned you that in London country ways will not do, Frederica!”
“You did!” she retorted. “And although I can’t say that I paid much heed to your advice it so happens that I am accompanied today by my aunt!”
“Who adds invisibility to her other accomplishments!” —Frederica - (BONUS) “Sir Richard sighed. “Rid yourself of the notion that I cherish any villainous designs upon your person,” he said. “I imagine I might well be your father. How old are you?”
“I am turned seventeen.”
“Well, I am nearly thirty,” said Sir Richard.
Miss Creed worked this out. “You couldn’t possibly be my father!”
“I am far too drunk to solve arithmetical problems. Let it suffice that I have not the slightest intention of making love to you.” —The Corinthian
More Quotations?
If these Georgette Heyer quotes weren’t enough for you, try these from Holly Black, Charles Dickens, and John Green!
Source : 25 Best Georgette Heyer Quotes
