Quotes by Scottish Authors - Page 14

An intelligence completely dissociated from the physical, or at least an impression of it, was a strange, curiously limited and almost perverse thing, and the precise form that your physicality took had a profound, in some ways defining influence on your personality.
Iain M. Banks
Ambition is the necessary spur of a great mind to great action; when acting upon a weak mind it impels it to absurdity, or sours it with discontent.
Frances Wright
I was ambitious and desperate to direct my first film, so I capitulated and blew it. Never again. Never fucking again.
Craig Ferguson
Mrs Beaumont shrugged. ‘Dougie travelled light in life,’ she said. ‘He knew it was people who were important.
Sara Sheridan
I got interested in the idea that love is often used as a kind of blanket explanation for things. I mean, battered wives, for instance: "Why did you go back to him?" "Oh, I loved him." "Why did you embezzle fifteen million pounds and run away to the other side of the world?" "Oh, well, because I was in love." All that and then you don't ask anything else. I thought if I just say, these people needed love and they found it, then it kind of explained it away. I wanted to look at their behaviour and how love can inspire the best and the very worst in human behaviour but love itself is not behaviour. So I avoided the word 'love' until the very end and it's the last word in the novel. I wanted to explore what people will do when they're in such terrible need of love. If there was a big idea then that was it. Then, of course, I hope that if it's a story worth reading it's the characters themselves who make you want to read it, not the big idea. I don't think a big idea drives a novel usually. Something else has to engage you on a much more kind of personal level.
Morag Joss
She had covered herself in frost, so every part of her grew cold and would not feel, because of that single part that longed to hear that word, yet had never known the hope, or expectation, that it would.
Shehanne Moore
Rule three? You mean there's more?
Shehanne Moore
I supposed you've already kissed him? Don't deny it, that guilty look is a complete giveaway. Did you like it?"t"Felicity!"t"Well?"t"Yes." Ainsley laughed. "Yes, I did."t"Was it a good kiss? The kind of kiss to give you confidence that your Mr. Drummond would know what he was doing? The kind of kiss that made you want him to do more than kiss you?
Marguerite Kaye
My father prided himself on maintaining traditions that were hundreds of years old. You'll feel as if you've stepped back into the eighteenth century."tHer brows lifted in surprise. He could see the wheels turning in her clever brain, but she chose merely to nod, and perversely, though he knew he would not like it, he wanted to know what she was thinking. "Go on. Say it."t"It is nothing. Only - you are very much a man of the nineteenth century."t"You mean you're not surprised I left such a backward place."t"Such a backward place must be crying out for a man like you." Ainsley pushed her windswept hair out of her eyes.
Marguerite Kaye
Kissing gave a man all sorts of immoral ideas. Such ideas were, in Madame Hera's world, the province only of men. That Ainsley herself had had ideas - her mind boggled, trying to imagine what Madame would say to that.tIn fact, those very ideas cropped up in several of the letters Felicity had forwarded to her, variously referred to as 'unnatural desires,' 'longing,' 'carnal stirrings,' fever of the blood,' 'indecent thoughts' and even, memorably, 'an irrepressible need to scratch an itch.
Marguerite Kaye
But the pain, the tearing blackness, the white heat of his uncontrollable fury, the terror that made him run from himself, the sweats and the shakes, and the dull ache in his head, they were all too real. ~~~~She kissed him to stop the words babbling out. She was in love. “Jack,” she said, because it was all she could trust herself to say. “Jack.” She loved him. She kissed his eyelids. She loved him.
Marguerite Kaye
Celeste grabbed his arm. “You see, you are running away from the truth. Why won’t you talk about it?”“Take your hands off me. Now.”She had gone too far. She knew it would be insane to push him further, but she knew with certainty that was exactly what she was going to do. Celeste tilted her head and met his stormy eyes. “No.
Marguerite Kaye
She had always swum alone. She had never swum in the company of a man, and this man -- She dragged her eyes away again...."Go in. I will follow you but don't look."Jack laughed. "I never make promises I can't keep," he said.
Marguerite Kaye
...People - the ones who are left behind - desire answers. Even when we are advised from beyond the grave not to pursue them.
Marguerite Kaye
You're warning me off. There's no need, I assure you. At this moment in time, my only ambition is to get myself through the day ---" He broke off, realising too late what he'd admitted, remembering, suddenly, why he had kissed her in the first place. And now he'd given her the perfect opening to start again.But to his surprise, her expression softened. "Yes," she said. "That is how I have felt since --- since." She blinked rapidly, and forced a smile. "It is a good thing, this -- this---between us, because now I know that I am recovering myself...
Marguerite Kaye
...You, you look -- bien -- exactly what you were, a high-ranking British officer, used to unwavering obedience and with the air of a Greek god, gazing down on us mere mortals.
Marguerite Kaye
The soldier in the portrait had been a respected and admired officer...The man he had become was fighting a different battle now. He had his demons, just as she had her ghosts.
Marguerite Kaye
You! That is what is behind this. Ever since you -- As if I didn't have enough on my mind without having to lie awake thinking of you and your damned kisses and your damned questions.
Marguerite Kaye
Maman’s life was an unfinished book. Celeste had to discover the ending, and then she could close the cover for ever.
Marguerite Kaye
Where is your Revolutionary spirit?""Beheaded," Celeste said.
Marguerite Kaye
Celeste committed the cardinal sin of leaning across Jack's arm. "You will excuse me, Madam, but I have something most particular to say to Monsieur Trestain.""That was rude," jack said, though he was smiling."No doubt you thought her very beautiful.""No doubt that is what you think I thought.
Marguerite Kaye
Celeste rejoined him. "How you ladies do love a bargain," he said."You were listening!""I left before you shared the secrets of your undergarments." Jack looked sheepish. "That didn't sound quite how I intended."Celeste blushed. "You should not have mentioned it at all. A lady's undergarments are not a fit topic for a gentleman to discuss at a military dinner.""Actually," he retorted, "you would be surprised at how often the subject comes up.
Marguerite Kaye
There were times when he felt as if he were being literally torn in two. Times when he raged at the injustice of what was happening to him, times when he was overwhelmed with guilt. There was no right and wrong anymore, which had been one of clear-cut lines for so long, was now so blurred that he was careening around like a compass struggling to find true north.
Marguerite Kaye
Celeste." Jack grinned. "How every appropriate. An angel sent from heaven to relieve my boredom.""An artist sent from France to paint your brother's estate," she retorted."Touché'. In that case we should get down to business.
Marguerite Kaye
His eyes darkened. His hands slid up to her shoulders. She leaned into him as he pulled her towards him. It started so gently. Soft. Delicate. Celeste leant closer. The kiss deepened. she could feel the damp of his shirt and the heat of his skin beneath it. A drop of perspiration trickled down between her breasts, and she felt a sharp twist of pure desire.
Marguerite Kaye
He closed his eyes and allowed himself to remember the taste of her and the feel of her and the smell of her. She was quite lovely. She was altogether ravishing. She would set any man's blood on fire. He shouldn't have kissed her.
Marguerite Kaye
What the hell do you think you are doing, creeping about in the night in woman's clothing? I could just as easily have killed you?"tThe sheer audacity of her remark rendered him speechless for a moment, and then Finlay laughed. "This, senorita, is a kilt, not a skirt, and you did not for a moment come close to killing me, though I don't doubt that you'd have tried if I'd given you half a chance.
Marguerite Kaye
Do you miss wearing your kilt?" she asked.t"In London, it caused more bother than it was worth. Ladies either found it indecent or intriguing. A fair few found it to be both. I was never quite sure whether it was indecently intriguing or intriguingly indecent!
Marguerite Kaye
I kissed you," Finlay said roughly. "for the very simple reason that you are irresistible."t"I think that is what is known as serendipity," Isabella replied, "for it's the very same reason I kissed you back."t"Serendipity," Finlay said, sliding his arm around her waist. "I've always wondered what it tasted like."t"Strawberries, and lavender, and vintage wine, I believe is how you described it."t"No," he said decidedly. "It tastes of nothing other than essence of you. The most intoxicating and delicious taste imaginable.
Marguerite Kaye
Vintage kisses," Finlay said. "If only they could be bottled, you would have an elixir beyond price.
Marguerite Kaye
Those were the kind of kisses to keep a man awake at night, wanting more. Now, shall we drink this excellent wine and get on with the rest of the tour?
Marguerite Kaye
The Jock Upstart, is what Wellington calls - called me. A man who does not know his allotted place in the scheme of things.
Marguerite Kaye
I must confess, your gown does not do justice as your trousers did to your delightful derriere."tColour flamed in her face. She ought to be outraged, but Isabella was briefly, shockingly inclined to laugh. "A gentleman does not remark on a lady's derriere."t"I seem to recall telling you when last we met that I am not a gentleman, senorita. And now I come to think of it, I recall also that you took umbrage at being called a lady.
Marguerite Kaye
It was because he wanted to kiss her so much that he stopped himself, bent over her hand, clicking his heels together, then let her go. "Adios, Isabella. Good luck. Please be careful. Stay safe."t"Goodbye, Finlay. May God protect you and keep you from harm.
Marguerite Kaye
A man who is born to be hanged can never be drowned.
Marguerite Kaye
He picked up the hairbrush and handed it to her. "What were you planning to do with that, comb me to death?
Marguerite Kaye
So you wish me to forget that you are a sheikh and a prince and a crown prince and soon to be King? That is a lot to forget.
Marguerite Kaye
It is terrifyingly beautiful," Julia said softly.t"Terrifying?"t"Nature at its most beautiful and most lethal. It is like standing on the edge of one of those lakes in Switzerland, so blue and so calm and so deep and so dangerous. You have the overwhelming urge to plunge in, even though you know the cold will kill you. This desert - your desert - it makes me want to walk into it and keep walking. You probably think I'm being ridiculously fanciful."t"I would not have put it in those words, but they are exactly how I feel about Qaryma. Terrifyingly beautiful.
Marguerite Kaye
There is an old saying, that in the desert a camel is more useful than a kingdom," he said ruefully, "but as a location for lovemaking, it leaves a lot to be desired.
Marguerite Kaye
She was riding a camel, in the most beautiful desert, in the kingdom belonging to this most beautiful man. A man who thought she had the most delightful rear. A man who wanted to kiss her every bit as much as she wanted to kiss him. "I know that I will regret saying this, but at this moment in time, I think I could manage anything.
Marguerite Kaye
There is nothing more effective in igniting a man's desire than a woman's passion. To see the fire in your eyes, to feel the fire in your blood as you touch me, it sets me on fire too. Do you imagine I would prefer to kiss a woman who responds only with -- with compliance? No, I would not. No red-blooded man would. Never apologize for passion. Restraint, Julia, has no place in lovemaking.
Marguerite Kaye
She laced her arms around his neck. "Are you hungry, Azhar?"tHis smile made her blood fizz. "Ravenous, Julia."t"Then please, abandon any attempt at controlling your appetite for me," she whispered into his ear, "Because I too am starving.
Marguerite Kaye
Was your magic carpet out of commission?
Marguerite Kaye
I thought I had to be alone to be free. But I am only ever truly myself when I am with you, Azhar. I know, that is such an -- an extravagant thing to say, but it is true. I have to realize that freedom means having the ability to choose. To choose to share your life, to choose to love unconditionally. The two are inseparable. There is no freedom without love and there is no love without freedom.
Marguerite Kaye
Problems are only opportunities with thorns on them.
Hugh Miller
Whilst writing all this, I have had in my mind a woman, whose strong and serious mind would not have failed to support me in these contentions. I lost her thirty years ago [I was a child then]--nevertheless, ever living in my memory, she follows me from age to age.She suffered with me in my poverty, and was not allowed to share my better fortune. When young, I made her sad, and now I cannot console her. I know not even where her bones are: I was too poor then to buy earth to bury her!And yet I owe her much. I feel deeply that I am the son of woman. Every instant, in my ideas and words [not to mention my features and gestures], I find again my mother in myself. It is my mother's blood which gives me the sympathy I feel for bygone ages, and the tender remembrance of all those who are now no more.What return then could I, who am myself advancing towards old age, make her for the many things I owe her? One, for which she would have thanked me--this protest in favour of women and mothers.
Samuel Smiles
An aunt is a safe haven for a child. Someone who will keep your secrets and is always on your side.
Sara Sheridan
Never, my little one, hide anything from those that love you. Never let anything that makes itself a nest in your heart, grow into a secret, for then at once it will begin to eat a hole in it.
George MacDonald
Parisians were not easy to engage in conversation. Perhaps that was why the Resistance had been so successful.
Sara Sheridan
If we indulge in inordinate affection, anger, anxiety, God holds us responsible; but He also insists that we have to be passionately filled with the right emotions.
Oswald Chambers
A sentimentalist is one who delights to have high and devout emotions stirred whilst reading in an arm-chair, or in a prayer meeting, but he never translates his emotions into action. Consequently a sentimentalist is usually callous, self-centred and selfish, because the emotions he likes to have stirred do not cost him anything.
Oswald Chambers
Cases fired by emotion rather than money were dangerous.
Sara Sheridan
People who inspire such contradictory emotions must be worthwhile, I reasoned.
Sara Sheridan
I thought of myself mixing the fragrance of a certain day – the heavy musk of the hillside after the rain with the lightness of fresh blossoms doused in the downpour. I thought of each little bottle as the essence of a happy day or a sad one. I mixed the scent of a lonely moment – sandalwood and bergamot lingering over a rich, peppery base.
Sara Sheridan
. . .the young man who rings the bell at the brothel is unconsciously looking for God.
Bruce Marshall
When people say "it's always the last place you look". Of course it is. Why would you keep looking after you've found it?
Billy Connolly
I see now the virtue in madness, for this country knows no law nor any boundary. I pity the poor shades confined to the Euclidean prison that is sanity
Grant Morrison
Oh, adjust yourself. You people have spent ten millennia playing at soldiers while becoming ever more dedicated civilians. We've spent the last thousand years trying hard to stay civilian while refining the legacy of a won galactic war.
Iain M. Banks
Time for the likeliest story since Mary told Joseph it was God’s.
Val McDermid
There is a romance about all those who are abroad in the black hours.
Robert Louis Stevenson