Top 250 Tessa Dare Quotes (2025 Update)
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201. “All that talk about my being just a girl, it being unsafe – imagine, you truly meant it!” “What, did you think I was just being severe?” “Yes, of course,” she replied with a shrug. “For the first year I knew you, perhaps two – I thought you were put on this earth simply to vex me.” His eyebrows lifted. “And after two years?” “Oh, then I figured out the truth,” she said as they walked out of the room. “I was put on this earth to vex you.”

— Tessa Dare

202. “To begin, there is no better way to prove the worth of one’s mind than to display a willingness to change it.”

— Tessa Dare

203. “There’s a reason the poets say ‘falling in love,’ and not ‘climbing.’ There’s no controlling it, no choosing where one lands.”

— Tessa Dare

204. “There are all kinds of courage in the world, and most of it takes place far from battlefields.”

— Tessa Dare

205. “Izzy laughed. She waited for him to laugh, too. He didn’t.”

— Tessa Dare

206. “To me, the truth doesn’t ruin anything. Why should understanding the universe diminish our sense of wonder at it?”

— Tessa Dare

207. “She loved to draw anything. Well, almost anything. She hated drawing attention to herself.”

— Tessa Dare

208. “Naturally there are papers. It should surprise no one to learn that Hell is a vast, inefficient bureaucracy.”

— Tessa Dare

209. “Izzy felt as though she’d wandered into the third act of a play. She had no idea what was going on, but it was unbearably dramatic.”

— Tessa Dare

210. “Side by side, elbows propped on the rail, they remained there. Two people who would never belong to the crowd, happily belonging to each other.”

— Tessa Dare

211. “I need you, Lady Penelope Campion. I’m not letting you go.”

— Tessa Dare

212. “Your cookery book is a book of lies.”

— Tessa Dare

213. “Oh, Penny. He must truly love you,” Emma said. “Ash and Chase ate the sham. Gabriel made more.”

— Tessa Dare

214. “It’s so curious, isn’t it? How if you’re denied something again and again, eventually you start telling yourself you didn’t want it in the first place.”

— Tessa Dare

215. “As deaths go, it would have been a kind one. There were worse ways to meet one’s demise than being buried alive in literature.”

— Tessa Dare

216. “Penny embraced her in farewell. “Do keep trying with your cat. The creatures most difficult to reach make the most loving companions in the end.”

— Tessa Dare

217. “Think of you. Brilliant, beautiful, remarkable you. You do great things here in Spindle Cove, but I know you’re capable of far more. Let me show you the world, Susanna. More than that, let me show the world you. Don’t let fear hold you back.”

— Tessa Dare

218. “A flush pressed to her cheeks, overwhelming her freckles. “If you’re his cousin, you should take better care of him. What are you thinking, allowing him to wander the countryside, waging war on flocks of sheep?” Ah, that was sweet. The lass cared. She would see him settled in a very comfortable asylum, she would. Perhaps Thursdays would be her day to visit and lay cool cloths to his brow.”

— Tessa Dare

219. “I am the girl who made up a Scottish lover, wrote him scores of letters, and kept up an elaborate ruse for years. Does it really surprise you that I’m odd?”

— Tessa Dare

220. “She’d always wondered what it would feel like to stand on one end of a ballroom and watch a handsome, powerful man make his way to her. This was as close as she’d ever come to it, she supposed. Standing at Diana’s side. Imagining.”

— Tessa Dare

221. “I do not believe every problem can be cured with a kitten. I do believe in love. And perhaps love can’t cure every problem, but it makes the wounds heal a bit faster, with fewer scars. I understand why you don’t believe that. How could you, if you’ve never known it yourself?”

— Tessa Dare

222. “Please. I’ve promised Rosamund and Daisy. The girls will be so disappointed.” She’d promised them? Damn it. Broken promises were something he avoided at all costs. And the simplest way to avoid them was to not make any in the first place. Tonight he would give her a stern talking-to about making promises on his behalf. And perhaps a light spanking just to underscore the matter.”

— Tessa Dare

223. “On each page was a sketch of lobsters coupling in a different position. Logan had never seen anything like it. She’d created a lobster pillow book.”

— Tessa Dare

224. “Then came the lies. Her heart told her lies. Wicked, insidious falsehoods, resounding with every beat. He’s a broken man. He needs you. You can heal him. Rationally, she knew better. Untold numbers of women had already tried their hands – among other body parts – at “healing his broken soul,” with no success.”

— Tessa Dare

225. “A small vibration of joy went through her. Two curt syllables of praise from him, and her heart thrummed like a dragonfly’s wings. Don’t, she bid it. Don’t you dare. Her heart didn’t listen to her – but then, it never did.”

— Tessa Dare

226. “How do you sleep at night?” His reply came just as she banged the door closed. “I don’t.”

— Tessa Dare

227. “I’m telling you, it’s impossible. If she’s not in the mews or the back garden, I keep her on a short lead.” His eyebrow quirked with derision. “Spoken like the guardian of many a ruined young female in this neighborhood, I’d wager.” “I beg your pardon. Marigold is not that kind of goat.”

— Tessa Dare

228. “He still took her breath away. As he slid from his horse, he was magnificent. Resplendent. Without a doubt, the most beautiful man she’d ever seen. And then he spoke.”

— Tessa Dare

229. “He said simply, “Because I choose her.” “Truly?” Oh God. Truly? As in, had Minerva truly just said that aloud? At least she’d stopped herself from voicing the rest of the thoughts running through her addled brain, which went something like, Truly? That whole determined, dangerous saunter across the room was for me? In that case, would you mind going back and doing it all over again? Slowly this time, and with feeling.”

— Tessa Dare

230. “Well, I don’t know how you propose to complete this bed without joining pieces together. Did you find a leaflet in the attic with instructions? In Swedish?”

— Tessa Dare

231. “I’m afraid you’ll have to define these things if you want me to have any idea what you’re talking about. Alternatively, you can simply go on talking while I stare at your earlobe.” She blushed. “You needn’t trouble yourself.” “It’s no chore.” He crossed his arms and leaned back against the window casing. “I’m a veritable connoisseur of earlobes, and yours is rather nice.”

— Tessa Dare

232. “Damn, she would be a delight to spoil. If she weren’t his employee, he could shower her with little gifts and luxuries. Remove all the small worries that came between her and the sky. “Do go on,” he said. “I’m listening.” And looking. And noticing.”

— Tessa Dare

233. “With her kiss, his whole body came alive. Not just his body. Something stirred in the region of his heart, as well. Jesus. Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene. Delilah, Jezebel, Salome, Judith, Eve. Trouble, every last one. Add Minerva Highwood to the list. A woman like this could ruin him. If he didn’t ruin her first.”

— Tessa Dare

234. “Ah, so you’re scared.” “I’m not scared.” “Of course you are. You’re human. We’re all scared, every last one of us. Afraid of life, of love, of dying. Maybe marching in neat rows all day distracts you from the truth of it. But when the sun goes down? We’re all just stumbling through the darkness, trying to outlast another night.” Colin downed another swig of wine, then stared at the bottle. “Excellent vintage. Makes me sound almost intelligent.”

— Tessa Dare

235. “Three years ago, there was a sordid, suspicious business with his cousin.” “I’d been wondering when we’d get to this.” Chase took a large swallow of brandy. “This is the good part. Pay attention.” Ash gave Chase an annoyed look. “Do you mind? We’re having a conversation here.”

— Tessa Dare

236. “How was it that men could be so big and strong in body, and yet so fragile when it came to pride?”

— Tessa Dare

237. “I mean it.” He held her off with an outstretched hand. “Don’t do it, Alex. Don’t try to hold me with my head in your lap, and kiss my tortured brow and stroke my hair, and tell me I’m blameless and misunderstood.” Her nose wrinkled. “I hadn’t intended to do any such thing.” “Oh,” he said. “Well, then. Good.” Damn.”

— Tessa Dare

238. “You’re being absurd.” He rose to his feet, pacing away. “There are fleas that jump from dog to dog with greater difficulty than your mind leaps from one conclusion to the next.”

— Tessa Dare

239. “Onion tartlets, pastry puffs stuffed with cheese, a terrine of mushroom and hazelnuts. There’s an pharaoh-sized pyramid of exotic fruits. The pineapples alone must have cost a small fortune. And, of course, there’s the sham.”

— Tessa Dare

240. “He had a set of rules when it came to sexual congress – he didn’t pay for it, he wouldn’t beg for it, and he damned well wasn’t going to wed for it.”

— Tessa Dare

241. “As though it made perfect sense. As if all the talking and not-talking and arguing and ignoring they’d done over the past eight years – no, so much longer than that – had all been entries on one long list of “Things We Do to Avoid Kissing.” And now that they’d reached the end of it, they had a great deal of lost time to make up. They.”

— Tessa Dare

242. “Absolutely not. We are not going into the water.” She lunged forward. They were going into the water.”

— Tessa Dare

243. “Well, I’m afraid my schedule is quite booked for the rest of the week.” He flipped through the pages of an agenda. “Brooding, drinking, indoor badminton tournament.”

— Tessa Dare

244. “Here is the point.” She stepped into his path, forcing him to meet her eyes. Man-eating sharks and all. “No one can be reduced to numbers in a ledger, or a stack of banknotes, or a single silver coin. We are humans, with souls and hearts and passion and love. Every last one of us is priceless. Even you.”

— Tessa Dare

245. “There was nothing like a sky full of stars to make a man reckon with his own humility.”

— Tessa Dare

246. “They just want your attention, can’t you see? Even if they have to tie you with ropes or douse you with water, or devise a different death for a doll every morning. Sometimes I think Daisy does it just for the excuse to hold your hand once a day. And you ought to see the way Rosamund looks at you when you’re too occupied to notice. She’d never admit it, but she’s desperate for your approval.” She reached for his hand. “Chase, they love you already.”

— Tessa Dare

247. “Her hands couldn’t decide where to be. They merely displayed the panicked desire to be anywhere else.”

— Tessa Dare

248. “He took a draught of wine. “If you insist. I suppose we can converse as normal English people do. We’ll talk about the weather, or the latest horse race, or the weather, or the price of tea, and oh, did we happen to discuss the weather?”

— Tessa Dare

249. “Women are allowed to do one-tenth of what men may do, and yet we are scrutinized for it ten times as closely.”

— Tessa Dare

250. “One last thing,” she muttered as Rosamund reached for the door knocker. “If Lady Penelope Campion offers you a sandwich – you will eat it. And you will like it.” “Why does that sound like a threat?” She didn’t answer. He’d learn soon enough for himself.”

— Tessa Dare