Top 500 Nora Roberts Quotes (2026 Update)
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251. “People say to someone they love: I’d die for you. They don’t expect to, of course, have no plans to. They may believe it, or mean it, or it may simply be an expression of devotion. But I know what it means now, I understand that impossible depth of emotion now. And I know you would die for me. You’d put my life before yours to protect me. And that terrifies me.”

— Nora Roberts

252. “It’s ridiculous to say not to speak ill of the dead. We’re all going to be dead eventually. What would we talk about in the meantime?”

— Nora Roberts

253. “Youth and age, she thought. Beginnings and endings, connections and constancy. And, love. She snapped the embrace, but that wasn’t it. She snapped the glitter of tears, and still, no. Then Alison lowered her forehead to her grandmother’s, and even as her lips curved, a single tear slid down her cheek while the dress glowed and glittered behind them. Perfect. The blue butterfly.”

— Nora Roberts

254. “She felt her heart beating in her throat when the man in the mask began to chant again.”

— Nora Roberts

255. “You put something behind you, it’s got its eyes on your back. I’d rather keep it in front of me, so I can see where it’s going.”

— Nora Roberts

256. “Because if you had confidence enough to try something, you had to have courage enough to fail.”

— Nora Roberts

257. “It doesn’t matter. That’s the point. It doesn’t matter that my mother is my mother, or that things don’t always work exactly the way you thought they should. Moments matter. I know that better than anyone, but I never let it apply to me. Not to me. People matter, how they feel, how they connect, who they are alone and together. All that matters, no matter how quickly the moment passes. Maybe because it passes. What matters is you’re the blue butterfly.”

— Nora Roberts

258. “Feelings are feelings. I don’t understand why people blame other people for what they feel.”

— Nora Roberts

259. “When a woman had eyes that big, that brown, that beautiful, she probably got whatever she wanted without saying a word.”

— Nora Roberts

260. “He looks fierce and dignified at the same time. Can I pet him?”

— Nora Roberts

261. “But you stand up for me. You tell me the truth. You make me laugh, and you make me want. You let me be and feel who I am. And you fell in love with me even when you didn’t want to.”

— Nora Roberts

262. “Shannon: Only the living suffered. Only they were riddled with guilt and regret and unanswered questions.”

— Nora Roberts

263. “I’m still picking pockets – I just do it as legally as I can. Being married to a cop limits certain activities.”

— Nora Roberts

264. “I do not feel obliged in my reading. I read to be entertained and to relax, and to go into another world, not because it’s good for me.”

— Nora Roberts

Featured in: Reading Quotes

265. “Love meant different things to different people.”

— Nora Roberts

266. “Love can fade and die. I’ve seen it. It can grow and build as well. I think when it’s real and meant, it can only grow bigger and stronger.”

— Nora Roberts

267. “As she rubbed, as she crooned, Connor’s eyes fluttered open. He found himself staring up into Meara’s pale face and teary eyes. “What? Why am I on the floor? I hadn’t gotten drunk yet.” He reached up, brushed a tear from Meara’s cheek. “Don’t cry, darling.” He struggled to sit up, teetered a bit. “Well, here we all are, sitting on Fin’s kitchen floor. If we’re going to spin the bottle, I’d like to be the one to empty it first.”

— Nora Roberts

268. “For over a year I continued to submit mss, and have them rejected – the last few with rejection letters indicated the story was pretty good, but I was American.”

— Nora Roberts

Featured in: Quotes About Stories

269. “Damn skippy.” “Who is Skippy? Why are you mad at him?” “It’s an expression. Like bet your ass.” “People are always betting their asses. Language is fun.”

— Nora Roberts

270. “In all the illusions, you’re the only truth that I need.”

— Nora Roberts

271. “Don’t let the fear and suspicion of the brutal and ignorant make you doubt yourself.”

— Nora Roberts

272. “There is no disgrace in staying behind, not when it’s the right thing.”

— Nora Roberts

273. “Love’s the glue. Use it right, it can fix most anything.”

— Nora Roberts

274. “I find I use the Internet more and more. It’s just an invaluable tool. I do most of my research on the Net now – and certainly do the bulk of my communicating through email.”

— Nora Roberts

275. “To crave forever is to dismiss the beauty and wonder of the cycle.”

— Nora Roberts

276. “Why couldn’t she have this, just enjoy this, without creating obstacles, digging up problems, worrying about mistakes, about tomorrow’s? Why let the maybe’s, the what if’s, the probabilities spoil something so lovely?”

— Nora Roberts

277. “Every single book is a challenge.”

— Nora Roberts

Featured in: Book Quotes

278. “What kind of a maniac needed over five thousand plates?”

— Nora Roberts

279. “I want you more than I should,” she heard herself say. “I have you less than I want.”

— Nora Roberts

280. “I’d rather be screwed up with you than smooth with anybody else.”

— Nora Roberts

281. “The story was told, generation by generation, in song and in story, until time misted it into myth and legend. But some believed, as legends brought comfort.”

— Nora Roberts

282. “It wasn’t like a date, she reasoned. Not like some weird double date with her and the brother of the dead guy and her best friend and her best friend’s ex-husband who didn’t really count. It was just eating.”

— Nora Roberts

283. “I would hope that my writing’s cleaner than it was when I started.”

— Nora Roberts

284. “Life – you have to live it as it comes.”

— Nora Roberts

285. “But when two people feel something, they ought to respect that enough to figure it out.”

— Nora Roberts

286. “The woman’s managed what hasn’t been done in thirty-one years. She’s broke my god dawn nose.”

— Nora Roberts

287. “Did they know – the young and fearless – what a miraculous thing it was to have all of anyone?”

— Nora Roberts

288. “It’s not a matter of jealousy. It’s a matter of courtesy.”

— Nora Roberts

289. “Don’t let anything stop you from going where you need to go, from doing what you need to do. Make your mark on the world, and make it deep so it lasts.”

— Nora Roberts

290. “I’m good at figuring out how things work, but I don’t know how this happened.”

— Nora Roberts

291. “Love’s not some amorphous concept created for books and poetry and not attainable. It’s real and vital, and it’s necessary. Damn it.”

— Nora Roberts

292. “Love’s a gift, Hayley, to be taken and received freely.”

— Nora Roberts

293. “Up to this point your life has pretty much sucked. You’re not responsible for that. But you are responsible for what happens from here on.”

— Nora Roberts

294. “You have to trust or you’re only living half a life.”

— Nora Roberts

295. “Love’s not a faulty toaster. You can’t take it apart and study the pieces, replace a part and figure out how it all fits back together. You just feel it.”

— Nora Roberts

296. “Knowledge, and truth, save us from chaos.” His tone was quiet, reasonable. And made her want to bite him. “Tempering them with compassion and tolerance makes us human. Without those things, fanatics feed on fear and ignorance.”

— Nora Roberts

297. “Intellectually, she knew no one really died of a broken heart. Emotionally, she suspected some could.”

— Nora Roberts

298. “Need a gallon of milk and a box of bullets? This was the spot.”

— Nora Roberts

299. “No sooner looked but they loved.”

— Nora Roberts

300. “She’d never been taken before, he realized. Not like this, where her surrender was complete, not when she couldn’t separate some small part of herself to reach for control. And God, he wanted to take her, to destroy that fascinating and innate control.”

— Nora Roberts