Top 250 Georgette Heyer Quotes (2026 Update)
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151. “Besides, it was a well-known maxim that maniacs must be humoured.”

— Georgette Heyer

Featured in: Romance Quotes

152. “When he was pleased he looked what nature had intended him to be: a placid man with a kindly, easy-going disposition; but when harassed his expression changed to one of peevishness, a frown dragging his brows together, and a pronounced pout giving him very much the look of a thwarted baby.”

— Georgette Heyer

153. “I have never met the man who had vision large enough to appreciate my genius,” he said simply. “Perhaps it was not to be expected.”

— Georgette Heyer

154. “Yes, but we do not know that he snores, my love,’ Lady Ombersley pointed out. ‘Indeed, we may be almost certain that he does not, for his manners are so very gentleman-like!’ ‘A man who would contract the mumps,’ declared Cecilia, ’would do anything!”

— Georgette Heyer

155. “Ten or twelve couples? No, no, Dassett would not be talking of red carpets and awnings for such a paltry affair as that!’ said his lordship. These ominous words struck a chill into his wife’s soul.”

— Georgette Heyer

156. “Perhaps Charis did not realize that when one had passed through a time of terrible anxiety relief did not immediately restore the tone of one’s mind. To be sure, she herself had not expected that after the first raptures she would find herself subject to fits of dejection, and much inclined to be crotchety; but still Charis should have known better than to have enacted a tragical scene within an hour of her arrival.”

— Georgette Heyer

157. “Don’t worry. Chivalry has practically no appeal for me whatsoever. – Neville Fletcher.”

— Georgette Heyer

158. “No, he was not as handsome as poor Wrotham, whose dark, stormy beauty troubled her dreams a little. Wrotham was a romantic figure, particularly when his black locks were disheveled through his clutching them in despair.”

— Georgette Heyer

159. “It seemed to Kitty a pity that her new friend’s mind was set so irrevocably upon marriage, but her suggestion that Olivia might seek an eligible situation as a governess met with no favour at all. Olivia stared at her with dismay in her big eyes, and unequivocally stated her preference for death.”

— Georgette Heyer

160. “Don’t waste a thought on any of the eligible suitors you’ve found for me, dear ma’am! There is more of mama in me than you have the least idea of, and the only eligible husband for me is a rake!”

— Georgette Heyer

161. “I hope you mean to contribute a handsome wreath to my obsequies?’ ‘Certainly! In the nature of things, it is likely that you will predecease me.’ ‘If I survive this adventure there can be no question of that. Your fate is writ clear: you will be murdered. I cannot conceive how it comes about that you were not murdered long since!’ ‘How odd! Charles himself once said that to me, or something like it!’ ‘There is nothing odd in it: any sensible man must say it!”

— Georgette Heyer

162. “Lord, if we were all to marry our first loves what a plague of ill-assorted marriages there would be!”

— Georgette Heyer

163. “There was nothing in store at Undershaw for his lordship but a set-down, but it was disappointing to be granted no opportunity to deliver this.”

— Georgette Heyer

164. “He soon discovered that what Arabella lacked in inches she more than made up for in spirit. She tore his character to shreds and warned him of his ultimate fate.”

— Georgette Heyer

165. “As for the fan, she agreed that it was a most amusing trifle: just what she would wish to buy for herself, if it had not been so excessively ugly!”

— Georgette Heyer

166. “She contrived, without precisely making so vulgar a boast, to convey the impression that she was escaping from courtships so persistent as to amount to persecution; and Mr Beaumaris, listening with intense pleasure, said that London was the very place for anyone desirous of escaping attention.”

— Georgette Heyer

167. “He paused and then said, as though the words were wrung out of him: ‘O God, Mama, I’ve made such a mull of it! What am I to do?”

— Georgette Heyer

168. “It is the tyranny of the weak, isn’t it? The weapons being tears, reproaches, vapours, and other such unscrupulous means which are employed by gentle, helpless women like your aunt!”

— Georgette Heyer

169. “To listen to a poet arguing with himself – for she could scarcely have been said to have borne any part in the discussion – on the merits of blank verse as a dramatic medium was naturally a privilege of which any young lady must be proud, but there could be no denying that to talk for half an hour to a man who listened with interest to anything she said was, if not precisely a relief, certainly a welcome variation in her life.”

— Georgette Heyer

170. “Do you know, it has of late become an ambition of mine to hear my name on your lips instead of my title.”

— Georgette Heyer

171. “Lady Theresa prophesied disaster for all concerned, and hoped that when Serena was dying an old maid she would remember these words, and be sorry. Meanwhile she remained her affectionate aunt.”

— Georgette Heyer

172. “What a nonsensical thing it would be in me to allow myself to become alarmed by a trifle such as murder!”

— Georgette Heyer

173. “Dear Edward has given Fanny a chocolate-coloured coach with pale blue cushions. The wheat is picked out in blue.” He held the sheet at arm’s length. “It seems strange, but no doubt Fanny is right. I have not been in England for such a time... Ah, I beg her pardon. You will be relieved to hear, my dear Hugh, that the wheat still grows as it ever did. The wheels are picked out in blue.”

— Georgette Heyer

174. “Tiffany never consciously deviated from the truth, but since she saw everything only as it affected herself the truth was apt to become somewhat distorted.”

— Georgette Heyer

175. “I daresay you know how it is when one falls into a fit of the dismals; one says things one doesn’t mean.”

— Georgette Heyer

176. “His lordship detested independently-minded subordinates. It was not the business of his officers to think for themselves.”

— Georgette Heyer

177. “I could never fancy any other female. Never shall! That’s why you see me now, a lonely man, with no one to care for, and no one to care a straw for me!’ As he presented the appearance of a comfortable hedonist, Kit was bereft of words.”

— Georgette Heyer

178. “It had survive both separation and divulging interests.”

— Georgette Heyer

179. “My lord, when I first encountered you the suspicion crossed my mind that your intellect was disordered. I am now certain that this is so!”

— Georgette Heyer

180. “The Duke looked at him sardonically. ‘I am not in the least interested in your emotions, Vidal. What I object to is that you have had the impertinence to disturb your mother. That I do not permit. You will leave England at once.”

— Georgette Heyer

181. “I’m beginning to wish you had to work for a living.”

— Georgette Heyer

182. “It was incomprehensible to her that anyone should be amused by such a circumstance, but both Gilly and Gideon plainly thought it excessively funny, so she smiled dutifully, realizing the truth of her mama’s dictum, that there was never any knowing what stupidities men would find diverting.”

— Georgette Heyer

183. “It is dreadfully tedious to be obliged to listen to poetry, even when it has been composed in one’s honour. But in another– oh, Kit, you won’t understand, but to be three- and- forty, and still be able to attach foolish boys, is such a comfort!”

— Georgette Heyer

184. “You must never marry. Don’t, I do earnestly beg of you, allow yourself to be taken in by any lure thrown out to you! You cannot hope to find a lady who will like you better than you like yourself.”

— Georgette Heyer

185. “You are too romantic! We have been dwelling in Arcadia my green girl: the rest of the world is not so golden as this retired spot. Only in fantasy does every circumstance conspire to make it inevitable that two people should fall in love! We should hardly have been more isolated had be been cast on a desert island together.”

— Georgette Heyer

186. “Help a smuggler!’ said Miss Thane in shocked accents. ‘My good man, do you know that you are addressing the sister of a Justice of the Peace? Let me tell you that my brother, who is in the house at this moment, holds the strongest views on smugglers and smuggled goods!’ This, after all, she reflected, was quite true, and ought to impress the Exciseman – provided, of course, that Sir Hugh did not take it into his head to appear suddenly and explain the nature of his views.”

— Georgette Heyer

187. “He was clearly a person of affluence, if not of taste.”

— Georgette Heyer

188. “Tiffany?’ exclaimed Mrs Underhill incredulously. ‘Why, she’s got no more notion of propriety than the kitchen cat!”

— Georgette Heyer

189. “Would you believe it? – the instant she clapped eyes on me, she said that she saw I had taken to dyeing my hair! I was never more shocked, for it is quite untrue! It is not dyeing one’s hair merely to restore its colour when it begins to fade a little! I denied it, of course, but all she did was to give the horridest laugh, which made me feel ready to sink, as you may suppose!”

— Georgette Heyer

190. “He lived in Half-Moon Street. His house was ruled by his cook, the wife of Moggat, his valet-footman. She also ruled the hapless Moggat. Moggat retaliated by ruling his jovial master as far as he was able, so one might really say Mrs. Moggat ruled them all. As Tom was quite unaware of this fact, it troubled him not a whit.”

— Georgette Heyer

191. “Yes, you may laugh, but you have no experience of such matters. I assure you, the instant you begin to practise economy you will find yourself spending far more than ever you did before you embarked on such a ruinous course!”

— Georgette Heyer

192. “But he has been telling me about his scheme to furbish up the Dower House if you should not dislike it – and I can’t think why you should, dearest, for he says the ghost is nothing more than Spurstow, trying to keep everyone away, which wouldn’t surprise me in the least, for I always disliked that man, and even if there is a ghost, it cannot possibly be more disagreeable to live with than your grandfather!”

— Georgette Heyer

193. “Very bad business,’ said Mr Wychbold. ‘Nothing to be done, though.’ ‘That,’ said Sophy severely, ’is what people always say when they are too lazy, or perhaps too timorous, to make a push to be helpful!”

— Georgette Heyer

194. “You’re surely not going to tell me that eels find you more entertaining than I do?’ he said incredulously.”

— Georgette Heyer

195. “For himself, Sir Waldo was resigned to an evening’s boredom, denied even the amusement of pursuing his acquaintance with the lady who disapproved of him.”

— Georgette Heyer

196. “My Lord Bedlington had not kept company with the Regent for years without acquiring a hard head and the digestion of an ostrich. Mellow he might become, and indiscreet stories he certainly told, but not his worst enemy would have accused him of being foxed.”

— Georgette Heyer

197. “Perhaps, if she could be busy all the time, as she meant to be, she might not feel so unhappy; perhaps, in household cares, she could forget her love, or grow at least accustomed to desolation.”

— Georgette Heyer

198. “I have not always appeared to be sensible of the care you have bestowed on me, but I know now that it has been unceasing.”

— Georgette Heyer

199. “For a perilous moment, she hovered on the brink of losing her temper, but her ever- ready sense of the absurd came to her rescue, and instead of yielding to the impulse to come to points with him she broke into sudden laughter, and said: ‘How unhandsome of you to have given me such a set- down, when I had already begged your pardon!’ ‘How unjust of you to accuse me of giving you a set- down when all I did was to agree with you!’ he retorted.”

— Georgette Heyer

200. “There was nothing romantic about Miss Charing’s appearance, but her entrance would not have shamed a Siddons. “You,” she uttered in accents of loathing. “I might have known it!”

— Georgette Heyer