Top 30 Tarun Shanker Quotes (2024 Update)

1. “I would do terrible things for the ones I love, Miss Wyndham.”

— Tarun Shanker

2. “Our cab set off down the crowded Victoria Street toward the heart of the city, trundling past drab buildings and gray street corners at an agonizingly slow speed rivaling that of a dying cow. To make the trip even more enjoyable, pungent city scents seeped through the hansom doors – strangely enough also reminding me of a dying cow.”

— Tarun Shanker

3. “Waiting by this staircase was Mr. Kent, who managed to both grimace at his stepmother and smile brightly at Laura.”

— Tarun Shanker

4. “We do not remain the same each minute to the next. Every word you hear, every sight you see, every smell, every thought you have, every moment – it all changes you. We keep putting on mask after mask, layers over layers. That’s how one grows.”

— Tarun Shanker

5. “You play at altruism, Miss Wyndham, but the truth is that you decided your sister was more important than my brother. What you don’t understand is that you don’t just ‘help people.’ Any choice to help someone, hurts someone else. You want to help Britain? Then take from Egypt. You want to heal someone? Then you leave someone else in pain, waiting. You want to save your sister? Then you kill my brother.”

— Tarun Shanker

6. “There was not enough tea in the world to make it bearable.”

— Tarun Shanker

7. “No, the true face is wretchedly simple and empty. The absolute joy in life, in friendship, in love, is learning about a person, deciphering them, taking each and every mask off to find a new one, waiting to be explored and understood.”

— Tarun Shanker

8. “While overseeing tonight’s dinner party, I finally found myself in the presence of Mr. Edwards’s famed wit when he asked me whether I had visited the zoo to see the puffins. Somehow Miss Wyndham was the one forced to leave the house.”

— Tarun Shanker

9. “And I’m truly sorry about last night with Mr. Edwards.” She sniffled. “Hang Mr. Edwards. After what he said yesterday, I’ve already added his to the lists of houses to be set ablaze.”

— Tarun Shanker

10. “Well, when one door closes, another slightly more inconvenient, out-of-the-way one opens. Let’s be off, shall we?”

— Tarun Shanker

11. “All the ending does is ruin perfectly good suspense,” he said with a wink and headed for the door.”

— Tarun Shanker

12. “Damn them both! Mr. Kent here while he was supposed to be helping me – much like he accused Mr. Braddock of earlier! And Mr. Braddock pretending to be concerned about my reputation, kissing me in a brothel, and then suggesting that I forced him? Ridiculous.”

— Tarun Shanker

13. “Good Lord. His appearance was nearly a caricature of the dark and brooding hero from every gothic novel.”

— Tarun Shanker

14. “He’s a boy,” the merchant replied bluntly. He held out his hand to denote height. “Like a man, but smaller.”

— Tarun Shanker

15. “I warn you, sir, I am more than skilled in deadly combat,” I said, hoping that was something someone more than skilled in deadly combat might say.”

— Tarun Shanker

16. “Was the man cleverer than he looked or just crazier? The line separating the two seemed rather thin.”

— Tarun Shanker

17. “You are right about one thing, Mr. Kent. I don’t need a hero,” I said in a firm, even voice. “But I could never love a man who would not be my ally.”

— Tarun Shanker

18. “Unable to break the tenacious grip, Claude spun around and forced Mr. Braddock backward, slamming him hard into the walls, crashing into bookcases, and finally, in a desperate move, throwing himself out the street window. A shrill, useless scream escaped from my throat as the glass shattered and the cold London air rushed in. The pair disappeared out the window. There was the briefest silence, a thud, and a rattling.”

— Tarun Shanker

19. “I need you to be my foil!” she wailed. “I need someone to disagree with him, so I can agree with him and support him like a good wife should! Please, Evelyn! I cannot become a ruined spinster!”

— Tarun Shanker

20. “What I never quite understand about the Season, though, is why does anyone want to get married? It seems to me very much like a slightly more pleasant prison, except the guard never changes.”

— Tarun Shanker

21. “Unfair,” I said as Captain Goode opened a door to reveal a beautiful library. The room seemed to stretch on forever. Bookshelves lined all the walls. Hundreds, thousands of volumes. The air carried that wonderfully comfortable and musty scent of dust, age, and wisdom that only worn books can emit.”

— Tarun Shanker

22. “Only you, Sebastian! Only you would get a mortal injury in a lady’s bedroom!”

— Tarun Shanker

23. “Stop being tall. Put your head down.”

— Tarun Shanker

24. “The room boasted many luxurious perks: a narrow bed, a rotted writing table, a stained wall, and a warped looking glass dangling on a rusty hook. I wondered if Mr. Kent recommended this hellish place so I would hurry back to his home.”

— Tarun Shanker

25. “My breath returned as I observed my escort. He was wearing the same black coat and trousers from the evening of Sir Winston’s ball. No strange clothes, altered features, or even a false mustache. He cared not one whit about his reputation. “Fine disguise,” I said.”

— Tarun Shanker

26. “Miss Wyndham feigned an illness, sneaked out of the house, and walked the London streets unaccompanied for most of the night. At the very least, I’d say she’s a better influence on Miss Kent than Lady Kent is.”

— Tarun Shanker

27. “Miss Wyndham, when I first met you in London, I thought you the most intelligent and the strongest girl I had ever had the pleasure of meeting. She would never moon after some mopey, dark boy. She would look for the man that challenged her, amused her, and made her sparkle and enjoy life.”

— Tarun Shanker

28. “But this time I was the one cut off as he gave a curt bow and turned, striding down the corridor toward the gardens and, I hoped, off a nearby cliff. Good riddance.”

— Tarun Shanker

29. “Granted, Mr. Kent was also making somewhat of a spectacle of himself, tasting an unfamiliar pastry and attempting to get its name and ingredients from the poor vendor. Mr. Braddock wore a pained expression, trying to divert Mr. Kent, and Miss Chen seemed to be pretending she had no connection to either of them.”

— Tarun Shanker

30. “And then I noticed the small cake that still sat uneaten next to him. And another in front of his mother. That was the last straw. I fully disliked them. How dare they leave perfectly good cake untouched?”

— Tarun Shanker

31. “Laura, that dress is not suitable for today, I’m afraid. It’s only a small dinner party,” I said, hastily stuffing it into the abyss of her wardrobe in exchange for a simple, undecorated blue dress, which would, as Laura passionately claimed, “accentuate her sapphire orbs so Mr. Edwards could not look away.” I sincerely hoped she meant her eyes.”

— Tarun Shanker

32. “I asked Tuffins to put him in the garden, bring tea, and make sure no one disturbed us. I couldn’t keep Mr. Braddock inside when I planned on shouting the roof down.”

— Tarun Shanker

33. “Lately, in order to win you over, I’ve been finding myself thinking, What would Mr. Braddock do in this situation? And it took me far too long to realize what that meant: I wanted to tell you that I would not be interfering anymore. I don’t pretend to understand why it is that you would want to be with him, but even someone without my superior detective skills would notice how you gravitate toward each other.”

— Tarun Shanker

34. “It was a strange feeling, to want to throw something at him and protect him from dangerous flying objects at the same time.”

— Tarun Shanker