Nora Roberts

“Life is like a moustache. It can be wonderful or terrible. But it always tickles.”

“[She] knew there were women who worked successfully out of the home. They ran businesses, created empires and managed to raise happy, healthy, well-adjusted children who went on to graduate magna cum laude from Harvard or became world-renowned concert pianists. Possibly both. These women accomplished all this while cooking gourmet meals, furnishing their homes with Italian antiques, giving clever, intelligent interviews with Money magazine and People, and maintaining a brilliant marriage with an active enviable sex life and never tipping the scale at an ounce over their ideal weight... She knew those women were out there. If she'd had a gun, she'd have hunted every last one of them down and shot them like rabid dogs for the good of womankind.”

“That woman doesn't have the sense God gave a retarded flea.”

“What is technology?" Cian pulled his brother inside, pushed the button for the next floor. "It's another god.”

“What if there's a fire?" Glenna said sweetly, and Cian merely smiled. "Then I guess you'd better open a window, and fly.”

“I feel something for you, some dangerous thing, some volatile thing.”

“A kiss isn't terminal.""It is the way you do it.”

“Ah, hi. It’s Carter. I wonder if you might want to go out to dinner, or maybe the movies. Maybe you like plays better than movies. I should’ve looked up what might be available before I called. I didn’t think of it. Or we could just have coffee again if you want to do that. Or… I’m not articulate on these things. I can’t use a tape recorder either. And why would you care? If you’re at all interested in any of the above, please feel free to call me. Thanks. Um. Good-bye.” “Damn you, Carter Maguire, for your insanely cute quotient. You should be annoying. Why aren’t I annoyed? Oh God, I’m going to call you back. I know I’m going to call you back. I’m in such trouble.”

“The state calls Paul Winthrop to the stand."... Paul answered the opening questions briefly, weighing his words, his eyes on Julia's."Would you tell the court the nature of your relationship with Miss Summers?""I'm in love with Miss Summers." The faintest of smiles touched his lips. "Completely in love with Miss Summers.”

“She forced herself to...turn and face him. It was easier with the width of the room between them. "I wanted to be able to take this relationship at face value, to enjoy it for what it was.... And I wanted to be sure I could walk away when it was over, completely unscathed. The problem is I can't. When you walked in this morning, all I could think was how much I'd wanted to see you, how much I'd missed you, how unhappy I'd because we were angry at each other."She stopped, straightened her shoulders. He was grinning at her, rocking back and forth on his heels. In a minute she was sure he'd be whistling. "I'd appreciate it if you'd take that smug look off your face. This isn't -""I love you, Julia.”

“I wonder if you can understand, I never really knew what it was to want, until you.”

“... a man's plans are meant to be changed for a beautiful woman.”

“What are these?”Meg looked at the rings of keys in Nate’s hand, deliberately furrowed her brow. “Those would be keys.”“Why do you need so many keys?”“Because there are so many locks? Is this a quiz?”He jingled them in his palm while she continued to give him a sunny, innocent smile. “Meg, you don’t even lock your doors half the time. What are all these keys about?”“Well… There are times a person needs to get into a place, and hey, that place is locked. Then she would need a key.”“And this place that, hey, is locked, wouldn’t be the property of that person. Would that be correct?”“Techincally. But no man is an island, and it takes a village, and so on. We’re all one in the Zen universe.”“So these would be Zen keys?”“Exactly. Give them back.”“I don’t think so.” He closed his fist around them. “You see, even in the Zen universe I’d hate to arrest my wife for unlawful entry.”“I’m not your wife yet, buddy. Did you have a search warrant for those?”“They were in plain sight. No warrant necessary.”“Gestapo.”“Delinquent.”

“The polite thing would be to go back inside, give you privacy when you read it. But, I’m just not that mature.' 'It’s nothing. Fine.' Feeling foolish, Laurel opened the envelope. You might think this is over, but you’d be wrong. I’ve taken your shoes hostage. Contact me within forty-eight hours, or the Pradas get it.”

“And each book has to receive your best effort every single time. No slacking. ”

“If you don't go after what you want, you'll never have it. If you don't ask, the answer is always no. If you don't step forward, you're always in the same place.”

“Today should always be outlawed in favor of tomorrow”

“I saw you standing on a veranda you'd built with your own hands. And I loved you.”

“Magic is. But its power is nothing beside love.--Prince Carrick”

“Good fiction creates its own reality.”

“Excuse me? Tonight you represent every dateless woman in this city, every woman who's about to sit down to a lonely meal of Weight Watchers past primavera she's just nuked in the microwave. Every woman who will get into bed tonight with a book or reruns of Sex and the City as her only companion. You are our shining hope....But no pressure.”

“You can't edit a blank page”

“I'm wondering, if there was something you wanted, had wanted for some time, what would you do about it?""If I've wanted it, why don't I have it?""Because you haven't made any real effort to get it as yet.""And why haven't I?" He arched his sandy brows. "Am I slow or just stupid?"Brenna thought it over, decided he couldn't know he'd just insulted his first born. Then she nodded slowly. "Maybe a bit of both in this particular case."Relieved to have the conversation turn to a safe area, he gave her a fierce grin. "Then I'd stop being slow and I'd stop being stupid and I'd take good aim at what I wanted and not dawdle about. Because when an O'Toole takes aim, by Jesus, he hits his mark.That, she knew, was true enough. And was certainly expected. "But maybe you're a bit nervous and not quite sure of your skill in this area.""Girl, if you don't go after what you want, you'll never have it. If you don't ask, the answer's always no. If you don't step forward, you're always in the same place.”

“He was a wild one as a lad, and there's a look about him that says he could be again." Kathy sighed. "I've always had a soft spot for a wild heart in a man. Have you no sweetheart in the States then, Jude?""No." She thought briefly of William. Had she ever considered her husband her sweetheart? "No one special.""If they're not special, what would the point be?”

“I don't kick a man when he's down, unless I'm the one who put him down in the first place. I don't put him down unless he deserves it. And I don't break my word if I give it. So I'll give you my word.”

“A ghra. A amhain. My love. My only.”

“((Doc is getting ready to do a Pap-smear on Reece))"Looks healthy," Doc commented."Good, because it hasn't been getting any exercise in quite a while." When she heard Willow smother a laugh, Reece just closed her eyes. She had to remember some old saying about being careful of thoughts. They become words.”

“He wanted to be a poet,' someone else put in while Maggie hugged Tim and patted his back. 'Said he'd only lacked the words to be one.”

“The tune was sad, as the best of Ireland was, melancholy and lovely as a lover's tears.”

“Why couldn't the merciful God turn down the sunlight so it wasn't blasting like a red furnace against his aching eyes? Because he'd worshipped the god of beer, thats why. He'd broken a commandment and worshipped the false and foamy god of beer. And now he was being punished.”

“You can fix anything but a blank page.”

“Damn me to hell or take me to heaven, but for Gods sake, do it now....”

“Ireland is a land of poets and legends, of dreamers and rebels. All of these have music woven through and around them. Tunes for dancing or for weeping, for battle or for love.”