What’s your line?
Recently, I saw a thread in which people presented/discussed their favorite sentences/lines from the OUTLANDER/Lord John books. Everyone has their favorites, from the funny to the touching, the dramatic, or the philosophical. And sometimes just because they like the way it sounds. {g}
Here are just a few that I’ve seen quoted as people’s favorites:
“…but it all comes right in the end. So it did, I thought–though often not in any expected way.”
“…for I was gromished from the fall and my right ankle gruppit–and was just about to call once more when I heard sounds of a rare hochmagandy…”
“You’re no verra peaceful, Sassenach… but I like ye fine.”
“And what was the ransom, then, that would buy a man’s soul, and deliver my darling from the power of the dog?”
“And if thee hunts at night, thee will come home.”
“Holy God.”
“And when my body shall cease, my soul will still be yours. Claire—I swear by my hope of heaven, I will not be parted from you.”
“Seems I canna possess your soul without losing my own.”
“That’s all right,” I assured him. “We’re married. Share and share aline. One flesh; the priest said so.”
“Only you. Because ye will not let me lie – and yet ye love me.”
“Whatever (your feelings) are, though, they must be exigent, to cause you to contemplate such drastic expedients.”
“Don’t buy any peaches.”
“On your right, man.”
“Ye scream like a lassie,” he said, eyes returning to his work.
“Come to me, Claire, daughter of Henry, strength of my heart…”
“Stand by my side, Roger, son of Jeremiah, son of my house…”
“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.”
“That’s the Third Law of Thermodynamics,” I said. “No,” he said. “That’s faith.”
“What is it about ye that makes men want to take their breeks off within five minutes of meetin’ ye?”(coupled with) “Well, if you don’t know, my dear…I’m sure no one does.”
“Ian, … Ye, sound like your mother. Stop”
” I canna tell whether ye mean to compliment my virility, Sassenach, or insult my morals, but I dinna care much for either suggestion.”
“Lord, ye gave me a rare woman, and God! I loved her well.”
“I am the son of a great man”.
“I mean to make you sigh as though your heart would break, and scream with the wanting, and at last to cry out in my arms, and I shall know that I’ve served ye well.”
“Dinna be afraid. There are the two of us now.”
I do (naturally enough) like all of those, but my own particular favorite is probably the last sentence from THE FIERY CROSS:
“When the day shall come that we do part,” he said softly, and turned to look at me, “if my last words are not ‘I love you’-ye’ll ken it was because I didna have time.”
Now, I like that one particularly, because I didn’t write it. It’s something my husband actually said to me one day, quite casually, looking up from his Wall Street Journal (minus the Scottish accent). I do know a good line when I hear one, though.
(Doug, having seen this, says he appreciates the credit, but would rather I mention that he is the source of the advice on how to get rid of crabs (of the pubic lice variety) that Murtagh offers in DRAGONFLY IN AMBER. This is true. The part where Jamie is teaching his young nephew not to pee on his feet, remarking, “It’s hard when your belly-button sticks out more than your cock does,” is also one of Doug’s lines, along with the bit where Jamie (after a drunken night) wakes up, sniffs his oxter and remarks that he smells like a dead boar. And people wonder where writers get their material…some of us marry it.)
People always do ask me “Which book is your favorite?”—and to me, it’s all One Huge Thing, so I can’t really pick. But I’m in the habit of saying, “The one I’m working on now—because that’s the one where I don’t yet know everything.”
I’m now in the Final Frenzy phase of SCOTTISH PRISONER (this is where I know Everything, and it’s a matter of how long I can sit at the computer without interruption and/or stopping to eat {g}), so at the moment, I’m in love with this book. Just for fun, here are a few of the lines that I particularly like from it:
“I haven’t seen a cove that sick since me uncle Morris what was a sailor in a merchant-man come down with the hockogrockle,” said Tom, shaking his head. “And he died of it.”
“He at once felt better, having taken action, and smoothing his crumpled neckcloth, went in search of fried sardines.”
“And then I heard other noises—screeching and skellochs, and the screaming of horses, aye, but not the noise of battle. More like folk who are roaring drunk—and the horses, too.”
“Distracted by the vision of amphibians in their thousands locked in slime-wrapped sexual congress amid the dark waters, he caught his foot in a root and fell heavily.”
“Abbot Michael was talking of neutral things: the weather (unusually good and a blessing for the lambs), the state of the chapel roof (holes so big it looked as though a pig had walked across the roof, and a full-grown pig, too), the day (so fortunate that it was Thursday and not Friday, as there would be meat for the mid-day dinner, and of course Jamie would be joining them, he would enjoy Brother Bertram’s version of a sauce, it had no particular name and was of an indistinct color—purple, the abbot would have called it, but it was well known he had no sense of color and had to ask the sacristan which cope to wear in ordinary time, as he could not tell red from green and took it only on faith that there were such colors in the world, but Brother Fionn—he’d have met Brother Fionn, the clerk outside?—assured him it was so, and surely a man with a face like that would never lie, you had only to look at the size of his nose to know that), and other things to which Jamie could nod or smile or make a noise. “
“Behind him, he thought he heard the echo of wild geese calling, and despite himself, looked back.”
[That's the cover for the Dutch edition of SCOTTISH PRISONER, and if you can figure out what it's supposed to be, you're a better man than I am, Gunga Din.]
Gosh! There are so many to list…but I do have a favorite seen and its from Dragonfly in Amber when Jamie and Claire use the sausage in their escape…I laughed for hours! Also I believe when Jamie turns 50 and he is taking himself into account he mentions something about being fairly in one piece and still able to have a cock stand in the morning. I again laughed for quite sometime after.
Your husband as I have said sounds like a very wonderful man and my husband too has said things to me that I have had to take a pause…one day out of the blue he said this to me (and he is a man of very few words) “Sometimes L. you can be so irritating that it gets under my skin…sigh…I guess its not a bad place to have you sometimes.”
Keep writing Diana!
Oops! I mean scene!
Oh that is such a nice thing to say!
Doug’s is my very favorite of all time, too. But probably my next favorite one hasn’t been mentioned yet. From Outlander: “‘Aye, I believe ye, Sassenach. But it would ha’ been a good deal easier if you’d only been a witch.’”
I love that whole scene–get shivers down my spine every time I read the part where Claire recognizes the scar on Geilie’s arm, then all the high drama of Claire trying to decide whether or not to go back, then it ends with that wonderfully funny, deflating statement. Perfection!
Oh yes Jean, that is also one of my all time favourites. The ‘art of the understatement’ delivered with such dry wit. It is without a doubt Diana’s brilliant sense of humour and irony that dramatically enriches her storytelling magic. Diana is a wordsmith extraordinaire!
Dear Diana,
After reading all these scenes I feel like rereading all of These Books again and again….
Do you ever reread Books?
Is the German Version of Scottish prisoner going to be published this Fall too?
Best wishes
Myrna
one of my favorite lines at the moment ( im re-reading the books for the maybe 100th time), from “an echo in the Bone”, Fergus and Jamie talk about the Beauchamp and that the Baron Amandine could be Fergus Father, and Fergus answered:
“Then I grew older and knew this was not true. No one would come to rescue me. But then- “He turned his head and gave Kamie a smile of surpassing sweetness.
“Then I grew older still and discovered that, after all, it was true. I am the son of a great man.”…
“I wish for nothing more”
LG Petra
I am reading “Echo” for the third time and have just read that particular quote, it moved me to tears. Thank you Diana for so succinctly putting into words emotions that we experience throughout our lifetime.
My favorite line(s) comes from the wedding night scene in Outlander:
(Referring to Jamie’s statement that male snakes have two cocks) “That sounds terribly uncomfortable for the female snake.”
“Well, she appeared to be enjoying herself. Near as I could tell, snakes havena got much expression on their faces.”
Oh my gosh I LOVE that line!
Just started reading this book series and finished the first volume, and having been raised by a herpetologist and having been around snakes all my life, that line cracks me up to no end (snakes have no cocks, just a cloaca, but the males do have “spurs,” vestigial limbs that they use to spread the female open and stimulate her, and the thought of someone thinking they’re penises not only seems correct for the period [amazing detail to period thinking by Dr. Gabaldon], but is HILARIOUS).
On Fraser’s Ridge, when Claire has her microscope (either Fiery Cross of ABOSA). When Jamie finds Claire looking at his sperm on the slide and he jumps back startled, then admires how fiesty they are with their lashing tails… and suspicioulsy asks Claire where she got them.
I woke up in custody of them this morning…
Also in Outalnder, when Jenny describes childbirth.. how the child who is born to you is not the same child you have loved in your mind during the pregnancy.. and how for a short time, that is sad.
Second Sleep passage in ABOSA and
When Jamie asks Claire if she would have wanted the Beardsley baby… and she says no, she’s raised her child and her job is done.. that giving herself the OK to move on with her life. That comes back to me often.
There are so many excellent quotes, but this is one of my favorites from Drums:
“But a man is not forgotten, as long as there are two people left under the sky. One to tell the story, the other to hear it. I am one, you are the other. He is not forgotten.”
“To live in,” he’d said, smiling, but given away by the gruffness of his damaged voice. “When ye need a hiding place.”
I love every word you write, Diana, so picking a singular quote is impossible, but your husband’s words are so touching.
I think the graphic is of a horse in the Lake District, where Jamie is a groom?
Lynda
Diana,
You are such an amazing writer and my favorite quote is in Dragonfly in Amber. THe chapter of To Grasp the Nettle, after Jamie admits to Claire that he knows she went to the King to free Jamie. “Never. Never another but me! Look at me! Tell Me! Look at me, Claire!” then goes on to say in the next paragraph “for you are mine. my wife, my heart, my soul.” Jamie is such a man and his love for Claire will withstand any hurdle that comes his way. God how I love your books Diana!!!
Erika
Loved reading all the favorites…so many good ones thoughout the series…one of my favorite scenes though is when she has traveled back through the stones and sees him again for the first time in his print shop….that one gets me everytime! Of course I anxiously await hearing his responce to why John has “been with his wife”!! Keep writing and eating!!
Anne, that’s my favorite scene in the entire series, too – takes my breath away.
Diana,
I would be willing to stop by several times a day and feed you if that will help you get finished any faster!
Rhona
Here’s one of mine from Voyager…….
“It gets a bit easier with practice, Sassenach,” he said. “Try living wi’ me for a time, and ye’ll find yourself spinning silk out of your arse easy as sh–, er, easy as kiss-my-hand.”
When Claire shows Jamie his “spunk” under a microscope he asks “Can ye not take them out and give them a decent burial or something?” Too funny. I had a Monty Python flashback to the “Every sperm is sacred” song. Hockogrockle sounds like something a frumious bandersnatch would would catch. Did whoever tripped fall in the breeding pool and interrupt the amphibian orgy? There was a guy from my herpetology class that would walk behind girls and say “Amplexus” (mating embrace) in a froggy voice. Entertainment galore.
“We have nothing now between us, save – respect, perhaps. And I think that respect has maybe room for secrets, but not for lies.”
And if my husband said what Doug did, then those would be my favourite too.
i dont have a favorite line but my favorite scene is in Outlander where at his sisters house he tells Claire why he married her.
O and my sister when she got a new female cat named her Sawney
I think my favorite line depends on my mood or what in on my mind. I love the line from your husband.
Two more that really stuck with me are:
1. “I love you, a nighean donn. I have loved ye from the moment I saw ye, I will love ye ’til time itself is done, and so long as you are by my side, I am well pleased wi’ the world.” (The Fiery Cross)
2. “If one day, a bhailach, ye should meet a verra large mouse named Michael–ye’ll tell him your grandsire sends his regards.” (A Breath of Snow and Ashes)
Thank You for giving us our favorite lines From your pen to our hearts.
Oh, and I’m pleased to see Tom again. I love the way you write about his facial expressions especially when something happens to Lord Johns coat. It just cracks me up!
sheesh, that was supposed to be what is on my mind. (I think it is time for bed)
Ahhhhhhh the Mickey Mouse line! I’m pretty sure every line from every book is my favourite, but the Mickey line is an extra special one. I can’t really put my finger on why–maybe it’s the way Jamie describes Mickey, or the emotions of the good-bye, or some deep-seeded connection to Disneyland and my own grandfather… That is a super great line.
On the comedic side, I think one of my very favourites is from Voyager, during Marsali and Fergus’s wedding: “Name,” he said abruptly. “I have to have a name. Can’t get married without a name. Just like a cock. Can’t get married without a name; can’t get married without a c—”
Fergus and Marsali’s wedding is one of my favourite scenes in the whole series. The way it starts off with side-splitting farce, and then unexpectedly veers into poignancy when Jamie gives Fergus his surname.
And ends with Claire’s tender reflections on how Marsali’s determination to be with Fergus, and the obstacles she had to overcome, reflect her own struggles to be with Jamie and the love she has for him.
“He was looking down at me; I could feel the weight of his gaze, dark blue and tender as the sea at dawn.
“What are you thinking, mo chridhe?” he asked softly.
I blinked back the tears ans smiled at him. His hands were large and warm on mine.
“What I tell you three times is true, ” I said. And kissed him as the sailors’ cheer went up.”
I never realised that was a reference to Mickey Mouse!!
*huh*
Guess it’s because I was never a fan that I didn’t pick up on it. Don’t recall him being on TV much here in Australia
my favorite quote has always been “For where all love is, the speaking is unnecessary”
I do not have a favorite line from any of the books, what amazes me is the enduring passion and love between Jamie and Claire espressed continually.
After reading the blog from VickiB from May23,11:08 I am wondering about The Haunted Prisioner. I have not heard about this book. Tell me more. sat
Hi Diana,
Those are all fantastic lines and many of them were my favorites, but I was searching for my all time favorite in there, and it turns out YOUR favorite was MY favorite TOO!! Cool, eh? What a great line. My hubby liked it too
Thank you for such beautiful, memorable, inspiring reading material 
Bonnie