Top 500 Diana Gabaldon Quotes (2026 Update)
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151. “It was the first breath of the new moon, but the whole of it was visible, a perfect ball of violet and indigo cupped in a sickle of light, luminous among the stars.”

— Diana Gabaldon

152. “Jamie was real, alright, more real than anything had ever been to me, even Frank and my life in 1945. Jamie, tender lover and perfidious blackguard.”

— Diana Gabaldon

153. “In body or soul, somewhere he struck a spark, and an answering fury of passion and need sprang from the ashes of surrender.”

— Diana Gabaldon

154. “According to the vicar, many of the local folk thought the War was due in part to people turning away from their roots and omitting to take proper precautions, such as burying a sacrifice under the foundation, that is, or burning fishes’ bones on the hearth – except haddocks, of course,” he added, happily distracted. “You never burn a haddock’s bones – did you know? – or you’ll never catch another. Always bury the bones of a haddock instead.”

— Diana Gabaldon

155. “I reached for a pair of my own, intrigued. “Why not? Did the ancient Gaels not wear undergarments?” Frank leered. “You’ve never heard that old song about what a Scotsman wears beneath his kilts?” “Presumably not gents’ knee-length step-ins,” I said dryly. “Perhaps I’ll go out in search of a local kilt-wearer whilst you’re cavorting with vicars and ask him.” “Well, do try not to get arrested, Claire. The dean of St. Giles College wouldn’t like it at all.” In.”

— Diana Gabaldon

156. “The world and each day in it is a gift, mo chridhe – no matter what tomorrow may be.”

— Diana Gabaldon

157. “I was in the heart of chaos, and no power of mind or body was of use against it.”

— Diana Gabaldon

158. “You are my courage, as I am your conscience,” he whispered. “You are my heart – and I your compassion. We are neither of us whole, alone. Do ye not know that, Sassenach?” “I do know that,” I said, and my voice shook. “That’s why I’m so afraid. I don’t want to be half a person again, I can’t bear it.”

— Diana Gabaldon

159. “The rest of the journey passed uneventfully, if you consider it uneventful to ride fifteen miles on horseback through rough country at night, frequently without benefit of roads, in company with kilted men armed to the teeth, and sharing a horse with a wounded man.”

— Diana Gabaldon

160. “You’ll have to keep it up for longer than that, if you expect ecstatic moans,” I answered. “Two minutes doesn’t deserve any more than a giggle.”

— Diana Gabaldon

161. “Mmphm,” I said, sounding self-consciously Scottish.”

— Diana Gabaldon

162. “Feelings aren’t truth.”

— Diana Gabaldon

163. “Whatever problems we might be facing – and I knew there were plenty – we were together. Forever. And that was enough.”

— Diana Gabaldon

Featured in: Romance Quotes

164. “It’s only the essence of a thing that counts. When time strips everything else away, it’s only the hardness of the bone that’s left.”

— Diana Gabaldon

165. “Overall, the library held a hushed exultation, as though the cherished volumes were all singing soundlessly within their covers.”

— Diana Gabaldon

166. “The body is amazingly plastic. The spirit, even more so. But there are some things you don’t come back from. Say ye so, a nighean? True, the body’s easily maimed, and the spirit can be crippled – yet there’s that in a man that is never destroyed.”

— Diana Gabaldon

167. “Your husband should tan ye, woman,” said an austere voice from the blackness under a tree. “St. Paul says ‘Let a woman be silent, and – ’ ” “You can mind your own bloody business,” I snarled, sweat dripping behind my ears, “and so can St. Paul.”

— Diana Gabaldon

168. “Is that you, Geordie?” he asked, not turning around. He was dressed in shirt and breeches, and had a small tool of some kind in his hand, with which he was doing something to the innards of the press. “Took ye long enough. Did ye get the – ” “It isn’t Geordie,” I said. My voice was higher than usual. “It’s me,” I said.”

— Diana Gabaldon

169. “Egg-sucking son of a porcupine!”

— Diana Gabaldon

170. “She said if ever I saw you again, I was to tell you two things, just as she told them to me. The first was, “I think it is possible, but I do not know.” And the second – the second was just numbers. She made me say them over, to be sure I had them right, for I was to tell them to you in a certain order. The numbers were one, nine, six, and seven.”

— Diana Gabaldon

171. “Jamie stood quite still, feeling his heart beat, watching. It was one of those strange moments that came to him rarely, but never left. A moment that stamped itself on heart and brain, instantly recallable in every detail, for all of his life. There was no telling what made these moments different from any other, though he knew them when they came.”

— Diana Gabaldon

172. “Come to bed, a nighean. Nothing hurts when ye love me.” He was right; nothing did.”

— Diana Gabaldon

173. “If I find I need guidance, I’ll ask.”

— Diana Gabaldon

174. “After all, I thought, what were days and weeks in the presence of eternity?”

— Diana Gabaldon

175. “Never,” he said, more softly. “For you are mine. My wife, my heart, my soul.”

— Diana Gabaldon

176. “I thought I could make out Jamie’s Highland screech, but that was likely imagination; they all sounded equally demented.”

— Diana Gabaldon

177. “Comment sont vos selles, grandpere? – Germain to Jamie.”

— Diana Gabaldon

178. “I had not slept with many men other than my husband, but I had noticed that before to sleep, actually sleep with someone did give this sense of intimacy, as though your dreams had flowed out of you to mingle with his and fold you both in a blanket of unconscious knowing.”

— Diana Gabaldon

179. “You dinna need to understand me, Sassenach,” he said quietly. “So long as you love me.”

— Diana Gabaldon

180. “What possessed ye, woman, to hit me in the heid wi’ a fish whilst I was fighting for my life?”

— Diana Gabaldon

181. “Not for the first time, I reflected that intimacy and romance are not synonymous.”

— Diana Gabaldon

Featured in: Romance Quotes

182. “Mmphm,” he said. “Hell of a choice, there. A stick up the cock, or a finger up the backside, eh?”

— Diana Gabaldon

183. “My father always said that was the difference between an American and an Englishman. An Englishman thinks a hundred miles is a long way; an American thinks a hundred years is a long time.”

— Diana Gabaldon

184. “And what’s wrong wi’ the way ye smell?′ he said heatedly. ‘At least ye smelt like a woman, not a damn flower garden. What d’ye think I am, a man or a bumblebee? Would ye wash yourself, Sassenach, so I can get within less than ten feet of ye?”

— Diana Gabaldon

185. “Faith is as powerful a force as science – but far more dangerous.”

— Diana Gabaldon

186. “The man that takes her in unholy embrace will have his privates blasted like a frostbitten apple,” he said, with relish, “and his soul will burn forever in hell.” He bared his teeth at his grandfather, and drew back his hand. “Like this.” The beechwood teeth landed in the midst of the fire with a plop, and at once began to sizzle.”

— Diana Gabaldon

187. “You are my courage, as I am your Conscience,” he whispered. “You are my hear and I your compassion. We are neither of us whole, alone.”

— Diana Gabaldon

188. “It’s a rare plant,” he said, touching the sprig in my open hand. “Flowers, fruit and leaves all together at the one time. The white flowers are for honor, and red fruit for courage – and the green leaves are for constancy.”

— Diana Gabaldon

189. “That’s for calling your father a fool. It may be true, but it’s disrespectful. Brian Fraser to teenage Jamie.”

— Diana Gabaldon

190. “For I hadn’t stood frozen at the revelation of Geilie’s pregnancy. It was something else I had seen that chilled me to the marrow of my bones. As Geilie had spun, white arms stretched aloft, I saw what she had seen when my own clothes were stripped away. A mark on one arm like the one I bore. Here, in this time, the mark of sorcery, the mark of a magus. The small, homely scar of a smallpox vaccination.”

— Diana Gabaldon

191. “Did ye know that the silkies put aside their skins when they come ashore, and walk like men? And if ye find a silkie’s skin and hide it, he – or she – ” he added, fairly, “canna go into the sea again, but must stay with ye on the land.”

— Diana Gabaldon

192. “He shook his head slowly from side to side, as though it were very heavy. I could almost hear the contents sloshing.”

— Diana Gabaldon

193. “Leaving me to plant the rest of the garlic, Mrs. Fitz sailed away like a galleon, young Alec bobbing in her wake. I worked contentedly through the morning, planting garlic, pinching back dead flower heads, digging out weeds and carrying on the gardener’s never-ending battle against snails, slugs, and similar pests. Here, though, the battle was waged bare-handed, with no assistance from chemical antipest compounds.”

— Diana Gabaldon

194. “That’s what marriage is good for; it makes a sacrament out of things ye’d otherwise have to confess. Jamie Fraser.”

— Diana Gabaldon

195. “I have noticed,” she said slowly, “that time does not really exist for mothers, with regard to their children. It does not matter greatly how old the child is.”

— Diana Gabaldon

196. “While my mind might object to being taken on a bare rock next to several sleeping soldiers, my body plainly considered itself the spoils of war and was eager to complete the formalities of surrender.”

— Diana Gabaldon

197. “Movement at the door of the cabin, and a small figure that I recognized as Amy Higgins appeared. The tall woman pulled off her hat and waved it, her long red hair streaming out like a banner in the wind. “Hello, the house!” she called, laughing. Then I was flying down the hill, with Jamie just before me, arms flung wide, the two of us flying together on that same wind.”

— Diana Gabaldon

198. “There aren’t many people like that – who will tell you the truth about themselves and anything else right out. I’ve only met three people like that, I think – four now,” she said, her smile widening to warm him. “There was.”

— Diana Gabaldon

199. “It’s two hundred year, in the Highland tales – when folk fall asleep on fairy duns and end up dancing all night wi’ the Auld Folk; it’s usually two hundred year later when they come back to their own place.”

— Diana Gabaldon

200. “James Alexander Malcolm MacKenzie Fraser,” I said, spacing the words, formally, the way Jamie had spoken them to me when he first told me his full name on the day of our wedding.”

— Diana Gabaldon