c2p-cmd/Good-Quotes-Authors huggingface dataset:
For the lady’s husband to become actively jealous was considered both doltish and dishonorable, a breach of the spirit of courtesy. Yet the record suggests that this was a fairly common occurrence and one of the occupational hazards of being a troubadour. The most famous crime passionnel of the epoch was the murder of Guilhem de Cabestanh, a troubadour knight whose love for the Lady Seremonda aroused the jealousy of her husband, Raimon de Castel-Roussillon. The story goes that Raimon killed Guilhem while he was out hunting, removed the heart from the body, and had it served to his wife for dinner, cooked and seasoned with pepper. Then comes the great confrontation:“And when the lady had eaten of it, RAimon de Castel-Roussillon said unto her: “Know you of what you have eaten?’ And she said, ‘I know not, save that the taste thereof is good and savoury.’ Then he said to her that that she had eaten of was in very truth the head of SIr Guilhem of Cabestanh, and caused the head to be brought before her, that she might the more readily believe it. And when the lady had seen and heard this, she straightway fell into a swoon, and when she was recovered of it, she spake and said: “Of a truth, my Lord, such good meat have you given me that never more will I eat of other.”THen he, hearing this, ran upon her with his sword and would have struck at her head, but the lady ran to a balcony, and cast herself down, and so died.”...the story is probably apocryphal… grisly details...borrowed from an ancient legend...the Middle Ages believed it and drew the intended moral conclusion-that husbands should leave well enough alone. Raimon was held up to scorn while Guilhem became one of the great heroes of the troubadour epoch.
— Horizon Magazine, Summer 1970
You’re wrong.”“I am?”“I thought things through this time around. I even managed to restrain myself.”Theo stared at her, incredulous. “You did.”“I thought about kicking him in the balls, but I didn’t. I figured that would be over kill.” - Rendezvous with Destiny
— Jess Schira, Rendezous with Destiny
I miss the days of burning your kind at the stake. For generations we have settled for financial ruin and ostracization of your whorish ancestors - but know this, I will personally gut you and put your head on a pike in my parlor.
— Heather McVea, Fallen Elements
She was right. Karma was a bitch, but so was I.
— Julie   Murphy
This is Karma. I'm a bitch. Can you think of anyone who deserves a bitch slap?"My phone buzzes again."If so meet at Judy Blue Eyes, 2am. If not, sit back and enjoy the show.
— Jenny Han, Burn for Burn
I will hunt you down. I will scour the streets of Los Angeles for you. Search every street in the Republic if I have to. I will trick you and deceive you, lie, cheat and steal to find you, tempt you out of your hiding place, and chase you until you have nowhere else to run. I make you this promise: your life is mine.
— Marie Lu, Legend
Those wars are unjust which are undertaken without provocation. For only a war waged for revenge or defense can be just.
— Marcus Tullius Cicero
Bread and water will not break me, and if you choose to isolate me, I shall have only but more time to plot against my oppressors.
— J.V. Hart
Revenge is a feast for thegods!
— Walter Scott, Ivanhoe
I'm going to get even, I swear I will. Mark my words, I'm a pregnant cranky woman with insomnia. I have time to plot my revenge.
— Kim Gruenenfelder
It's okay. Suddenly, the pain is starting to fade.""Yeah, revenge does that.
— Julie   Murphy
I know precisely what honor is, Heracles. Honor is the artifice kings sell the peasants’ sons so that they may fight and die without pay. Honor is what drives a peaceful man to bloody vengeance. Honor is what drove the Celts to behead the children of the Apache Courts.- The Egyptian God Bes
— Jonathan Maas, City of Gods: Hellenica
Revenge tightens the heart as much as the jaw. (La vengeance serre le cœur - Autant que la mâchoire)
— Charles de Leusse
Remembering the treatment that had been accorded the Knights and soldiers of St. Elmo, the Maltese inhabitants of Senglea took no prisoners. Hence there arose the expression (used in Malta to this day) 'St. Elmo's pay' for any action in which no mercy is given.
— Ernle Dusgate Selby Bradford, The Great Siege
I always thought high school was supposed to be a time for finding yourself, but I guess that's only if you fit into the mold people have made for you.
— Renee Dyer, Beneath His Darkness
There's always enough retribution to be dealt.
— Amber Silvia, Seas of a Dark Storm
If you keep on retaliating what you receive, you'll be stuck in a infinite abyss of revenge and vendetta.
— Pushkar Saraf
Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself.
— Leviticus 19 18 NIV
To carry a secret is to play with fire. Try to pass it on and you'd risk hurting someone else. Hold on to it and eventually you'd get burned.
— Emily Thorne
...if you bare your arse to a vengeful unicorn, the number of possible outcomes dwindles to one.
— David Mitchell, The Bone Clocks
They have him,' Marina hisses, pointing into the dark. 'They have his body and I'm not letting them keep it.
— Pittacus Lore, The Revenge of Seven
Every human is born of collusion. We come into this world the result of a covenant. Sometimes made of love, Sometimes of circumstance. But almost always made in secret.
— Emily Thorne
Engagement can be a commitment to love or a declaration of war. One must enter every battle without hesitation, willing to fully engage the enemy until death do you apart.
— Emily Thorne
In its purest form, a union becomes part of our very essence. And when that bond is broken, our essence is forever changed.
— Emily Thorne
If Mark really had managed to acquire some information about the Mogodorians, and if doing so had gotten him into some kind of trouble, then we needed to help him
— Pittacus Lore, The Revenge of Seven
I feel something hot and violent writhing in my stomach. I want to hurt them. I stare at my eyes in the mirror. I want so, so I will.
— Veronica Roth, Divergent
Treat all fairly or they will seek revenge.
— Christopher Paolini
People are fast to revenge but slow to appreciate.
— Timothy Mwirigi Culture
If you needed revenge, you’ve got it. Every minute that I’m with you knowing that you’re not mine is like hydrochloric acid in a razor cut.
— Connie Bailey, True Blue
Time is conscience of the universe.
— Raheel Farooq
Truth is a battle of perceptions. People only see what they're prepared to confront. It's not what you look at that matters, but what you see. And when then different perceptions battle against one another, the truth has a way of getting lost. And the monsters find a way of getting out.
— Emily Thorne
Some say loyalty inspires boundless hope. And while that may be, there is a catch. True loyalty takes years to build... and only seconds to destroy.
— Emily Thorne
For the average person leading an ordinary life, fame holds an hypnotic attraction. Many would sooner perish than exist in anonymity. But for the unlucky few who've had notoriety forced upon them, infamy can be a sentence more damning than any prison term
— Emily Thorne
In Revenge, as in life, every action has an equal and opposite reaction. In the end the guilty always fall.
— Emily Thorne
In every life, there comes a day of reckoning - a time when unsettled scores demand retribution, and our own lies and transgressions are finally laid bare.
— Emily Thorne
Defence lawyers use the term "duress" to describe the use of force, coercion or psychological pressure exerted on a client in the commission of a crime. When duress is applied to the emotionally unstable the result can be as violent as it is unpredictable.
— Emily Thorne
I was performing my ritual of sipping tea, shooting flirtatious glances and planning murder
— Mingmei Yip, Peach Blossom Pavilion
Don't be mad at a hoe for doing what she does best, besides it's not her that owes you that loyalty.
— Michelle Blanchard
Neil once told me you had to become a monster so that you didn't become the victim of one instead. I don't care what anyone says. I believe him.
— Shirley Marr, Fury
There in its nasty, stinking, underground home our insulted, crushed and ridiculed mouse promptly becomes absorbed in cold, malignant and, above all, everlasting spite. For forty years together it will remember its injury down to the smallest, most ignominious details, and every time will add, of itself, details still more ignominious, spitefully teasing and tormenting itself with its own imagination. It will itself be ashamed of its imaginings, but yet it will recall it all, it will go over and over every detail, it will invent unheard of things against itself, pretending that those things might happen, and will forgive nothing. Maybe it will begin to revenge itself, too, but, as it were, piecemeal, in trivial ways, from behind the stove, incognito, without believing either in its own right to vengeance, or in the success of its revenge, knowing that from all its efforts at revenge it will suffer a hundred times more than he on whom it revenges itself, while he, I daresay, will not even scratch himself. On its deathbed it will recall it all over again, with interest accumulated over all the years…
— Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Notes from Underground, White Nights, The Dream of a Ridiculous Man, and Selections from The House of the Dead
How well I know you by your deeds and how invariably you succeed in living down to what one expects of you!
— Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo
Humans might have so many roles in life.... yet revenge is not one of them
— Sameh Elsayed
When deception cuts this deep someone has to pay. My father's chance to bring justice to the truly guilty was stolen from him. His only option was to forgive. I have others. They say vengence is a dish best served cold but, sometimes it's as warm as a bowl of soup. My father died an innocent man, betrayed by the woman he loved. When everything you love has been stolen from you. Sometimes all you have left is revenge. Like I said this is not a story about forgiveness.
— Emily Thorne
The best revenge to get on your distractors is taking the high road. Avoid playing their game, following their murky rules.
— Assegid Habtewold, The 9 Cardinal Building Blocks: For Continued Success in Leadership
a detestable, viscous place populated by slugs
— Paul  Majkut, Oulanem
Brie's expiration date on revenge was never.
— H.M. Ward, Backdraft
Karma's a bitch with a broken heart. But she wears a smile on her face because she's the queen of revenge.
— Sandra Golden, Hidden World: Past, Present and Future
As hard as my life has been I have no desire for revenge. If I wish for anything it is for all the things that have been stolen from my life to be returned to me.
— Pramoedya Ananta Toer, The Mute's Soliloquy: a Memoir
Sometimes the righteous path doesn’t take you where you need to go!
— Shawn Wickersheim, The Penitent Assassin
...the dead, being wiser than the living, know freedom is always better than revenge.
— Michael G.  Williams, Wrapped In White: Thirteen Tales of Spectres, Ghosts, and Spirits
You're going to get a present from me so you'll always remember our agreement."She gave him a crooked smile and climbed on to the bed and knelt between his legs. Bjurman had no idea what she intended to do, but he felt a sudden terror.Then he saw the needle in her hand.He flopped his head back and forth and tried to twist his body away until she put a knee on his crotch and pressed down in warning."Lie rather still because this is the first time I've used this equipment.
— Stieg Larsson
Work is the undoing of nature.
— Paul  Majkut, Oulanem
We speak in hushed voices, so as not to wake our memories, the things we've done, the things we'll continue to do, for fear of breaking the cycle, how fierce we were when we were young, when we were unafraid of coming unhinged.
— Daniel Grayson
Some men prefer the heady tang of revenge to the comfort of cash.
— Michael H. Fox
He could pass off the inferior bottles on tables seven and four. Table seven knew nothing of wine, sending back a bottle of Riesling as "corked" because it had bits of cork in it, the imbeciles. Table four had gulped down a very special old pale brandy as though it was common wood alcohol, which was probably what they had been drinking because they had said that his brandy lacked bite. They deserved inferior burgundy. The bottles that had been stored too close to the stove might have enough bite by now for table four. A wine waiter's revenge may be long in coming, but it arrives in the end.
— Kerry Greenwood, Death by Water
Revenge is a human trait, one that has been the cause of the destruction of civilisations many times over. But the goblins live on in peace and harmony, taking little notice of us and our mistakes.
— Count Anton Dance of the Goblins
That's very kind of you," she said bitterly, for she no longer believed in kindness. "And you're willing to do this...why? Because you're fond of helping others?""I'm fond of revenge," the dragon answered.
— Vivian Vande Velde, Dragon's Bait
I hope he died of intestinal cancer in a part of the world where morphine is as of yet undiscovered.
— Stephen King, Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption: A Story from Different Seasons
For Calo, Galdo, and Bug
— Scott Lynch, The Lies of Locke Lamora
If the secret core of potlatch is the reciprocity of exchange, why is this reciprocity not asserted directly, why does it assume the “mystified” form of two consecutive acts each of which is staged as a free voluntary display of generosity? Here we encounter the paradoxes of forced choice, of freedom to do what is necessary, at its most elementary: I have to do freely what I am expected to do. (If, upon receiving a gift, I immediately return it to the giver, this direct circulation would amount to an extremely aggressive gesture of humiliation, it would signal that I refused the other’s gifts — recall those embarrassing moments when elderly people forget and give us last year’s present once again … ) …the reciprocity of exchange is in itself thoroughly ambiguous; at its most fundamental, it is destructive of the social bond, it is the logic of revenge, tit for tat. To cover this aspect of exchange, to make it benevolent and pacific, one has to pretend that each person’s gift is free and stands on its own. This brings us to potlatch as the “pre-economy of the economy,” its zero-level, that is, exchange as the reciprocal relation of two non-productive expenditures. If the gift belongs to Master and exchange to the Servant, potlatch is the paradoxical exchange between Masters. Potlach is simultaneously the zero-level of civility, the paradoxical point at which restrained civility and obscene consumption overlap, the point at which it is polite to behave impolitely.
— Slavoj Žižek, In Defense of Lost Causes
I don't mind having to die now, for I see that he is the cause of my death is about to share the same fate.
— Aesop, Aesop's Fables
When plotting revenge, you should dig two graves - one for your enemy, and the other for yourself
— Nathan Robert Brown, The Mythology of Supernatural: The Signs and Symbols Behind the Popular TV Show
I was rolling the dead warrior over to steal his cloak, too, knowing it would be far too large on me, when I noticed the blade stashed in the back of his belt. It was solid in my hand, and its blade was sawlike. It would be perfect for gutting the Astonian queen and her traitorous paramour."- Charlaina di Heyse
— Kimberly Derting, The Offering
When you revenge from the one you love
—  at the end it will be only you bearing the pain.
Revenge might be sweet and although friendship might be sweeter, once you find true love you will tast the sweetest thing life has to offer
— Morten Høgsberg
Revenge might be sweet and although friendship might be sweeter, once you find true love you will taste the sweetest thing life has to offer
— Morten Høgsberg
Hatred and food were served up in equal proportions at the Connor dining table as he was growing up.
— Bill   Ward, Revenge
Revenge was always the easy part
—  the hard part was living with it afterward.
There can be no greater motivator for evil than a huge sense of injustice!
— Bill   Ward
REVENGE is a kind of wild justice; which the more man’s nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out.
— Francis Bacon
If you cut a tree down make sure you also cut the roots for if not a new tree will come
— Hamza Akhtar
She felt like Captain Ahab, for the first time sighting his great white whale.
— Stephen King, Doctor Sleep
Sweet to the miser are his glittering heaps,Sweet to the father is his first-born's birth,Sweet is revenge--especially to women
— George Gordon Byron
You never loved me and yet you are asking me to not revenge.
— M.F. Moonzajer, A moment with God ; Poetry
The enemy is over there and we are still seeking revenge from the nature.
— M.F. Moonzajer
I certainly don’t have any interest in being on a dark veranda with any man except my husband, unlike some women do.” - Esther Norman
— Barry  Gray, The Revenge of Esther Norman The Complete First Series
Not that I'm the kind of person who would actually inflict emotional pain on another human being out of a selfish, twisted need for revenge.I just like to think about it.
— Jennifer Gilby Roberts, The Dr Pepper Prophecies
I thought my heart was pure. We do like to have such good opinions of our own motives when we're about to do something harmful, to someone else.
— Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin
Indifference is the revenge the world takes on mediocrities.
— Oscar Wilde, Vera or the Nihilists
Revenge is never pretty and often leaves you empty.--Alexandria "Dria" McAndrews
— C.J. Ellisson, Death's Servant
Before I sought truth. Now I seek justice.
— Sophie Jordan, Hidden
When Everything you've had is stolen from you, all you have left is REVENGE
— Emily Thorne
What can I say? Death is messy. And she had it coming.
— MaryJanice Davidson, Undead and Unemployed
She could never take an eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth. The weak and flaccid parity would make her nearly puke. She wants an eye for a tooth, and a life for an eye.
— Helen Zahavi, Dirty Weekend
What was she hoping to gain from his death? That it would numb the pain of his betrayal, or heal her injured pride? Her red sister didn't know much about love.
— Cornelia Funke, Fearless
But what is a memorial, when you come right down to it, but a commemoration of wounds endured? Endured, and resented. Without memory, there can be no revenge.
— Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin
It's been happening since I was in kindergarten. Not them all the time, but other kids, you know. Every day. It never stops, and it never goes away, thanks to the Internet--it just keeps happening every minute, every day. And I just want it to stop. I think about how to do it, you know. How to kill them. All kinds of elaborate things, like trapping them in pits and burying them alive, or covering them with concrete.
— Rachel Caine, Bite Club
Simply put, the best revenge is to live an awesome life.
— Ramon Bautista, Bakit Hindi Ka Crush ng Crush Mo?
An eye for an eye." "And the whole world goes blind," Coral puts in quietly.
— Lauren Oliver, Requiem
Whether it was power they sought, or revenge, or love-well, those were all just different forms of hunger. The bigger the hole inside you, the more desperate you became to fill it.
— Jodi Picoult, The Storyteller
He felt like the last bullet in a gun meant for revenge, sealed with a kiss.
— Pete Wentz, The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
-I'm going to heaven! I replied.-What do you mean, you're going to heaven?-Let me pass.-And what will you do in heaven, my poor child?-I'm going there to kill God, who killed Daddy.
— Tom Reiss, The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, and the Real Count of Monte Cristo
I regretted what a serious teenager I'd been: There were no posters of pop stars or favorite movies, no girlish collection of photos or corsages. Instead there were paintings of sailboats, proper pastel pastorals, a portrait of Eleanor Roosevelt. The latter was particularly strange, since I'd known little about Mrs. Roosevelt, except that she was good, which at the time I suppose was enough. Given my druthers now, I'd prefer a snapshot of Warren Harding's wife, "the Duchess," who recorded the smallest offenses in a little red notebook and avenged herself accordingly. Today I like my first ladies with a little bite.
— Gillian Flynn, Sharp Objects
Most victories are, in the best way, acts of revenge.
— Alain de Botton
Revenge did that to a person
—  it caused even the insecure and the meek to take foolhardy chances. After a while it became a way of life
As for Iago’s jealousy, one cannot believe that a seriously jealous man could behave towards his wife as Iago behaves towards Emilia, for the wife of a jealous husband is the first person to suffer. Not only is the relation of Iago and Emilia, as we see it on stage, without emotional tension, but also Emilia openly refers to a rumor of her infidelity as something already disposed of.Some such squire it wasThat turned your wit, the seamy side withoutAnd made you to suspect me with the Moor.At one point Iago states that, in order to revenge himself on Othello, he will not rest till he is even with him, wife for wife, but, in the play, no attempt at Desdemona’s seduction is made. Iago does not encourage Cassio to make one, and he even prevents Roderigo from getting anywhere near her.Finally, one who seriously desires personal revenge desires to reveal himself. The revenger’s greatest satisfaction is to be able to tell his victim to his face – "You thought you were all-powerful and untouchable and could injure me with impunity. Now you see that you were wrong. Perhaps you have forgotten what you did; let me have the pleasure of reminding you."When at the end of the play, Othello asks Iago in bewilderment why he has thus ensnared his soul and body, if his real motive were revenge for having been cuckolded or unjustly denied promotion, he could have said so, instead of refusing to explain.
— W.H. Auden, The Dyer's Hand
Utu--Maori revenge. 'Do everything well, boy. Do it better than them. Be a better rugby player, better at your job. Outshine them everywhere. Tramp on their pride. Go far, and leave them sniveling in your dust.
— Kris Pearson, The Boat Builder's Bed
Kindly permit me to tell you, sir, that I hate you. I hate you and your child, as I hate the life of which you are the representative: cheap, ridiculous, but yet triumphant life, the everlasting antipodes and deadly enemy of beauty. I cannot say I despise you - for I am honest. You are stronger than I. I have no armour for the struggle between us, I have only the Word, avenging weapon of the weak. Today I have availed myself of this weapon. This letter is nothing but an act of revenge - you see how honourable I am - and if any word of mine is sharp and bright and beautiful enough to strike home, to make you feel the presence of a power you do not know, to shake even a minute your robust equilibrium, I shall rejoice indeed. -
— Thomas Mann, Tristan
Two things you should never do in a hurry: make up and revenge.
— Iveta Cherneva
Oh, how I longed to burst through the doors and go walking through the streets, with my hands open, like weapons!
— Marcel Béalu, The Experience of the Night
But life wasn't a fairy tale, and I had no problem doing what was necessary to get what I wanted, even if it meant playing dirty.
— Michelle Madow, Vengeance
Takan had never truly defeated Zyid. Zyid had given his life to calm Takan's soul.
— Isamu Fukui, Truancy City
That he will haunt the footsteps of his enemy after death is the one revenge which a dying man can promise himself; and if men had power thus to avenge themselves the earth would be peopled with phantoms. ("Eveline's Visitant")
— Mary Elizabeth Braddon, The Gentlewomen of Evil: An Anthology of Rare Supernatural Stories from the Pens of Victorian Ladies
Some men simply refuse to appear insulted. But then, having felt the sting from the slap on their cheek, know just where to slip the knife, their smile never fading.
— Andrew Levkoff, A Mixture of Madness
I've discovered the secret of revenge. Outlive the f---ers! I'll dance on their graves.
— Michael Robotham, Suspect
You tell your brother he's gonna pay for that car in silver.
— Neal Shusterman, Red Rider's Hood
Everyone might think Lizzie's an angel, but I knew better. She was selfish, and she was going to pay.
— Michelle Madow, Vengeance
Something of vengeance I had tasted for the first time; as aromatic wine it seemed, on swallowing, warm and racy: its after-flavour, metallic and corroding, gave me a sensation as if I had been poisoned.
— Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre
I've been in the revenge buisness for so long, now that it's over I don't know what to do with the rest of my life.
— William Goldman, The Princess Bride
We should have just killed him, that's a lesson, don't get creative with revenge
— China Miéville, Kraken
Why can't I solve this problem by killing someone? she though petulantly, then comforted herself with the mantra that had kept her going in prison: "Soon all the humans will be dead," she said, droning in the time-honored fashion of gurus everywhere. "And then Opal will be loved."And even if I'm not loved, she thought, at least all the humans will be dead.
— Eoin Colfer
Death, there will be death, aye. Your lordship lost a son at the Red Wedding. I lost four upon the Blackwater. And why? Because the Lannisters stole the throne. Go to King’s Landing and look on Tommen with your own eyes, if you doubt me. A blind man could see it. What does Stannis offer you? Vengeance. Vengeance for my sons and yours, for your husbands and your fathers and your brothers. Vengeance for your murdered lord, your murdered king, your butchered princes. Vengeance!
— George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons
Vengeance is a delicious fruit, which must be allowed to ripen in order that it may be fully enjoyed.
— Émile Gaboriau, File No. 113
Revenge was a dish best eaten cold, but eight years between was arctic.
— Jonathan Kellerman, Rage
Yeah, reflections! The same, but different. Like twins - like blood brothers! And when you need something bad done, like punishment or revenge, you'll just ask me, and I will do it -
— Sonya Hartnett, Surrender
Still smiling she carried the TV through the doorway; then she gave it the strongest heave she could manage... When it hit Alan's oversized brick barbecue and the glass front of the TV smashed, Leslie didn't think she'd ever heard a more satisfying sound.
— Jude Deveraux, The Summerhouse
Revenge! The stupidest motive on earth, just an attempt to change history.
— Josephine Humphreys, The Fireman's Fair
When it comes to exacting revenge, it gets harder and harder to top yourself each successive time
— Josh Stern
...There,in his foul, stinking cellar, our offended, down-trodden and ridiculed mouse immerses himself in cold, venomous and, cheifly, everlasting spite. For forty years on end he will remember the offence, down to the smallest and most shameful detail, constantly adding more shameful details of his own, maliciously teasing and irritating himself with his own fantasies. He himself will be ashamed of his fantasies, but nevertheless he will remember all of them, weighing them up and inventing all sorts of things that never happend to him, on the pretext that they too could have happend and he'll forgive nothing. Probably he'll start taking his revenge, but somehow in fits and starts, pettily, anonymously, from behind the stove, believing neither in his right to take revenge, nor in the success of his revenge and knowing beforehand that he will suffer one hundred times more from every single one of his attempts at revenge than the object of his revenge, who, most likely, wont't give a damn.
— Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The master and mistress of the house and the rest of the Blood -even the Crux himself- brought our food, poured the wine, did our bidding. The centerpiece was a roasted stag. crowned with gilded antlers and stuffed with songbirds; they had hunted well. We were forbidden to kill the deer that fattened on our coleworts and stole our grain, and the venison tasted all the better for the salt of revenge.
— Sarah Micklem, Firethorn
Concealing himself from his father's wrath, behind the barn with wick turned low and his face two inches from the rough sawtooth page, Young Crawford had read of these atrocities in Beadle's Dime Library and fantasized about "calling out" the brutal old man who had sired him, "throwing down" on him with the "hogleg" he wore high on his hip, and blasting him into hell; after which he would go "on the scout," separating high-interest banks and arrogant railroad barons from their soiled coin and distributing it among their victims, or failing that into his own pockets and saddle pouches and living the "high Life" in saloons and "dance halls" where beautiful women in brief costumes admired his straight legs and square jaw and told him of the men who had "ruined" them (he knew not just how, only that the act was disgraceful and its effects permanent), whereupon he sought the blackguards out and deprived them of their lives. There was usually profit involved; invariably the men were thieves who lived in close proximity to their "ill-gotten booty," and didn't it say somewhere in Scripture that robbing a thief was no sin? If it didn't, it should have.
— Loren D. Estleman, The Branch and the Scaffold
He ran his thumb over my lower lip, sending a flurry of sparks through me. "Good-bye, Sophie." -Cal
— Rachel Hawkins, Demonglass
Never run after a man or a bus, there's always another one in five minutes.
— Cherry Adair, Kiss and Tell
We need to forgive ourselves and everyone else for NOT being perfect.
— Linda Masemore Pirrung, Explosion in Paris
i love you Ivy. I'll never stop loving you." "I prayed for one more chance to reach you," he said, "to tell you how much I love you and to tell you to keep on loving. Someone else was meant for you,Ivy, and you were meant for someone else.
— Elizabeth Chandler, Kissed by an Angel/The Power of Love/Soulmates
People will promise you the moon, offer you the stars, but in the end, the only heavenly body you can truly count on is your on!
— Linda Masemore Pirrung
Okay,” he said, his breath hitching, his hands shaking like hell as he pried her arms from around his neck and set her
— Cindy Gerard, To the Brink
This wasn't Weirdville, this was fricking Wonderland. Alice here was all grow up, but she was still chowing down on too much of that psychedelic mushroom.
— Suzanne Brockmann, Out of Control
Damn," Crystal sputtered, looking up from the dictionary in disbelief. "Oenophlygia: the state of being dunk. It really is a word".Johnny gloated unabashedly. "Just wouldn't listen, would you? Just couldn't stand that I might be way ahead of the game. Word to the wise," he added with a superior smirk. "Don't mess with a man of my experience in that arena.
— Cindy Gerard, Risk No Secrets
The best part of falling in love is the mystery and excitement of not knowing. The worst part of falling in love is the mystery and agony of not knowing.
— Gayle Hayes, Summer Solstice
Javier opened her makeup kit, held it edge to edge with the dressing table, and swept everything--every vial, brush, tube, and bottle--into the kit with his forearm.Laura gaped at him. "That stuff is worth hundreds of dollars."He shrugged, then shut the kit. "That's how SEALs pack makeup.
— Pamela Clare, Striking Distance
Bravery isn't when you go looking for trouble
—  bravery is when trouble comes looking for you.
Zach kissed her forehead. "I'm not going to let anything like that happen to you again. You're going to live out your days as the cosseted and cherished wife of a chief deputy U.S. Marshal.
— Pamela Clare, Breaking Point
I am threatened by the resolve that you are my soul. You are my being, you are every breath I take, you are my home, you are my sweet sin.
— Cassandra Giovanni, Walking in the Shadows
Cold rage had him leaning closer, the pistol now a mere inch from his throat. "I served with them for a decade in Special Forces. You can't _begin_ to know what that means. Now they're dead and I want answers.""Try Ask.com
— Pamela Clare, Striking Distance
Yeah, he'd been trained to be good with details, but once his dick started working, his brain generally shifted to standby.
— Pamela Clare, Striking Distance
If I weren't so screwed up, I would've sold my soul a long time ago for a handsome man who made me feel pretty or who could at least treat me to a Millionaire's Martini. Instead I lingered over a watered down Sparkling Apple and felt sorry about what I was about to do to the blue-eyed bartender standing in front of me. Although I shouldn’t, after all, I am a bail recovery agent. It's my job to get my skip, no matter the cost.If I weren't so screwed up, I would've sold my soul a long time ago for a handsome man who made me feel pretty or who could at least treat me to a Millionaire's Martini. Instead I lingered over a watered down Sparkling Apple and felt sorry about what I was about to do to the blue-eyed bartender standing in front of me. Although I shouldn't, after all, I am a bail recovery agent. It's my job to get my skip, no matter the cost. Yet, I had been wondering lately. What was this job costing me? Yet, I had been wondering lately. What was this job costing me?
— Miranda Parker, A Good Excuse to Be Bad
SWAT is already on its way. I'll be at your position in about ten minutes. SWAT should arrive in about fifteen to twenty."[Javier:] "I'll have her by then.
— Pamela Clare, Striking Distance
How do you like that, Corbray? You're upstaging yourself.
— Pamela Clare, Striking Distance
The whole world seemed to be wounded, broken, hurting.
— Pamela Clare, Striking Distance
Go. Do what you have to do. Be the hero that you are … but come back to me. There’s more to Noah McCall than the head of Last Chance Rescue. I see that man.… I love them both. Return to me, Noah. Please. - Mara to Noah
— Christy Reece, Return to Me
Marc to Gabe: "What do you know about the lemon stuff? You weren't in desert combat. You were a park ranger. I'm not dissing that. It's an important job. Someone has to keep the chipmunks in line. I've watched Chip and Dale. I know how sneaky those little bastards can be.
— Pamela Clare, Breaking Point
I haven't always been a patient man...but something tells me you'd be worth the wait.
— Sam Langley
Natalie was going to stay at home, cooking meals, baking pies, and making sure their life together was comfortable. When Zach came home from a hard day's work, she wanted to be there for him, not coping with her own stress and fatigue. She knew some women would object to her decision, but this was her life, and she was going to live it as she chose.
— Pamela Clare, Breaking Point
Something was in her mouth. Sami's tongue slid along the edges of something plastic. Flat, low ridges, holes-an adjustable strap. A baseball cap? Another taste. Hair spray. Gross. Someone had stuffed her baseball cap in her mouth, and from the feel of it they had taped it in place. Her arms were tied behind her and she lay face down on the floor-of what? Her car. The carpeting scraped her cheek every time they hit a bump. Panic flooded Sami's senses. She came instantly awake. Inhaling deeply through her nose, she willed herself to calm down. Her working motto flashed through her brain, panic never accomplished anything. Of course she had never been kidnapped and tied up before. In the dim light of passing cars, she glimpsed things-paper gum wrappers, an old straw, one whopper wrapper, a CD cover. That's where Sting went. Been looking for that for days. Man did she need to vacuum this car out. A metallic scent hit her nose. She'd recognize that smell until the day she died. Blood. And by the odor, someone had lost a great deal of it.
— Suzanne Ferrell, Kidnapped
If I release you, you won't scream? I'd rather not continue the conversation like this."She shook her head, and he freed her. She scrambled away from him, feeling the grooves of the headboard bite into her back when she slammed into it. He sat back on her bed, his hands on his jean-clad thighs. The hair at his neck curled from dampness. "You don't have to be afraid of me." She almost laughed. "A stranger breaks in, and I'm supposed to be cool with that?" "Amy, we're not strangers.
— Jaime Rush, A Perfect Darkness
You'll never forget," Alden said, for the first time the pure evil of his soul showing in his eyes. His voice was bloodcurdingly gentle as he added, "And neither will I. Nothing feels as good as your own flesh and blood.
— Justine Davis, The Best Revenge
But still she stood, ready to get back at it. Badass and admirable.
— Cristin Harber, Delta: Redemption
There was just something about a Delta boy. Physically, they were as good as men came. But add the whole warrior, protector, save-the-world attitude. Yeah, it worked for her.
— Cristin Harber, Revenge
As I walked over the loose fragments of stone, which lay scattered and surveyed the sublimity and grandeur of the ruins, I recurred, by a natural association of ideas, to the times when these walls stood proudly in their original splendor, when the halls were the scenes of hospitality and festive magnificence, and when they resounded with the voices of those whom death had long since swept from earth. "Thus," said I, "shall the present generation - he who now sink in misery - and he who now swim in pleasure, alike pass away and be forgotten.
— Ann Radcliffe, A Sicilian Romance
- He's young, good-looking and new in town. And He's got the local bullies in his sights. There's no justice here, but justice is coming...NO JUSTICE, the addictive new adult thriller that everyone is talking about
— J.K. Ellem, No Justice
He was the gorgeous one, brute strength wrapped into one sex god of a man.
— Cristin Harber, Savage Secrets
Oh for Christ sakes. Ay carrumba, chimichanga. I have no idea what you’re saying, but shut your pretty pie hole.
— Cristin Harber, Savage Secrets
He didn’t touch her. He didn’t have to. Tingles exploded down her neck, shooting toward her navel.
— Cristin Harber, Westin's Chase
In the span of one night, Jenny had gone from being someone he refused to touch to the woman he refused to stay away from.
— Cristin Harber, Chased
Whatever you guys call it. Man up. Get your panties out of a wad. Put on your big boy shorts. Grow a set.
— Cristin Harber, Winters Heat
You’re going to let her wander into someone else’s arms? There’s another man who could protect her better than you? Well, if that’s true—
— Cristin Harber, Winters Heat
God must think her a badass because he’d handed her this moment, and he didn’t dole out shit she couldn’t handle. That was a fact taught long ago by that miserable bitch called life.
— Cristin Harber, Savage Secrets
I want us to be more spontaneous. I want the superhero to come home and take me. Nothing to do with being his wife. Everything to do with uncontrollable testosterone.
— Cristin Harber, Gambled
What are you? The pregnant MacGyver?” “Best compliment I’ve had in a while.
— Cristin Harber, Live Wire
You know what? I don’t care about everyone. I never even cared about me. I cared about you.
— Cristin Harber, Garrison's Creed
For the record, you are knocking it out of the park with this speech.
— Julie James, The Thing About Love
Oh, a grenade. But where is the bamboo bazooka?
— Cristin Harber, Winters Heat
That’ll be like catching Niagara fucking Falls with a fly net.
— Cristin Harber, Winters Heat
Everyone creates what he fears.
— DiAnn Mills, Deep Extraction
I want no part of you? Explain that." Because right that second, he wanted every part of her. Preferably naked.
— Cristin Harber
You can't live when you're afraid of daying.
— DiAnn Mills, Deep Extraction
People do man-candy model shoots that don’t look nearly a tenth as orgasm-worthy as you right now.
— Cristin Harber, Live Wire
A pilot who signs up to fly through the eye of a storm doesn't complain of the turbulence.
— DiAnn Mills, Deep Extraction
Anything could happen while the dead slept. Which was why some would say a woman shouldn't tread alone through a cemetery at 2:55 on a Tuesday morning in April.
— DiAnn Mills, Deep Extraction
Eyes locked, they stared. She felt bleeding pain down to her soul.
— Cristin Harber, Garrison's Creed
We need you to come home.
— Cristin Harber, Sweet One
Your booty call embargo will remain intact.
— Cristin Harber, Hart Attack
He walked right to her, his long strides eating the space between them and sucking the oxygen in front of her
— Cristin Harber, Black Dawn
And now I can’t breathe for wanting you. I woke up, and your eyes were on fire. You haven’t looked at me like that in years. All need. All want.
— Cristin Harber, Gambled & Chased, The Titan Novellas
Who the hell was this woman that he shared a bed with? A life with. Anger and raw pain surged through Harrison as he wondered if he really had married a stranger.
— Katie Reus, Fatal Deception
I’m quite capable of taking responsibility for my own death.
— Brynn Kelly, Edge of Truth
Look.” He stepped closer, his voice lowered to a gruff murmur, and lifted her chin with his finger, forcing her to meet his gaze – which just made her want to stretch up and kiss him.
— Brynn Kelly, Edge of Truth
Alice Wilde was absolutely stunning in the firelight. Her natural look, her toned arms and body fit perfectly in this wilderness on a crazy river. And her heart—she had the heart of a wild mare who would endure until the end even if it killed her. Who, without even trying, dared Griffin to catch her if he could.
— Elizabeth Goddard, Wilderness Reunion
Yeah, seeing her unsettled him, but it was her words that nearly took him apart. Because sometime after his heart started beating again, after he’d grabbed ahold of his emotions, she’d become the woman that, once upon a time, he’d fallen in love with.
— Susan May Warren, A Matter of Trust
But a guy didn’t have to be a charmer with the right girl. No, the right girl made him say the right things, feel like he could stand on top of the world. The right girl laughed at his jokes and met his eyes with a smile that said he could do no wrong.
— Susan May Warren, A Matter of Trust
The sun glowed behind the monotonous, gray January sky, a tease of light through the heavy hazy. Noah gazed out the window. He hated when the sun shined against the overcast sky creating a white, blinding glare while the ball of yellow remained hidden, a tantalizing possibility without a promise. Maybe it would poke through; maybe it wouldn't. That type of sun was a capricious as a woman.
— Jacqueline Simon Gunn, Noah's Story
Looking at that pain in her eyes, he felt a closeness with her that he had never experienced before. Like they shared something powerful and unspoken, something so deep and devastating, it bonded them together. He knew then, that if she didn't forgive him, he would never survive.He was nothing without her.
— Jacqueline Simon Gunn, Noah's Story
Gunfire cracked around them.	“Just warning shots,” he yelled.	“How do you know?”	“We’re not dead.
— Brynn Kelly, Edge of Truth
Don’t you want to know the kind of woman I am?”When he said nothing, she continued. “I’m like your father. When I start something I finish it.”Cull seemed to consider that before he turned toward her, his lips quirking into a grin as his eyes blazed with challenge. “Is that right?”Before she could react, he grabbed her and dragged her to him. His mouth dropped to hers in a demanding kiss as he pushed her back against the barn wall.
— B.J. Daniels, Dark Horse
I have a suspicious mind, and murder is kind of my business.
— B.J. Daniels, Dark Horse
Your room or mine?
— Julie James, The Thing About Love
I’m supposed to believe it’s a coincidence that we’re both former spies that ended up together?
— Katie Reus, Fatal Deception
Her eyes widened. “Ooh… was it hate sex? I’ve always wanted to have hate sex.
— Julie James, The Thing About Love
John turned to her, with streaks of dried blood along his face. “Thank goodness we got the easy job.
— Julie James, The Thing About Love
Once on the road again, she found her center and determination to see this through. Let Perdue come for her. The vicious monster who’d made a living buying and selling people was going to feel her wrath. As the light turned green, she steered right onto Flagler Street. A second after she pulled onto the main road, her heart jumped in her throat. A tow truck barreled down on her as it ran a red light.
— Katie Reus, Fatal Deception
The things I want from you, darlin’, will give you nightmares, ones like you’ve never had before. A nightmare that will have you begging me not to wake you up.”--Lucca
— Sarah Brianne, Lucca
As he started making a pot of coffee he glanced out his kitchen window and into his neighbor’s window and froze. He had the perfect view of his new neighbor. She was beautiful. Scratch that. The word didn’t even come close to describing her.She didn’t seem very tall, though it was hard to measure. Her dark wavy hair cascaded down over her shoulders, reaching just below her breasts. Very full breasts. Definitely enough to fill his palms. And the tight tank top she was wearing left very little to the imagination. It was obvious she’d just woken up as she rubbed a hand over her face and reached for the coffee pot. Look away, he ordered himself. But he was rooted to the spot.
— Katie Reus, Danger Next Door
I want to run, to flee, to wake from this never-ending nightmare. But my body is frozen, my heart numb. Jagged pieces of the puzzle scatter across the corners of my mind, and fitting them together is futile. Threads of truth are still missing, exposing the gaps between what’s real and what’s fabricated.
— Kristen Luciani
I’ve been waiting half an hour for you to wake up.” His voice was uneven and raspy. “Is that right?” she murmured.
— Katie Reus, Danger Next Door
As she reached the stairs, she made a quick detour and stepped outside.	A crescent moon hung in the midnight blue sky along with trillions of twinkling stars. Out here there were no streetlights to wash out the view. She loved being able to see the stars.	Tonight, the mountains were etched deep purple against the night sky. The white snowcapped tips gleamed silver. Nearer, silhouetted pine trees swayed in the breeze as if in a slow dance.	“You are such a romantic,” Trask had once told her. “Are you sure you want to open a bar? You should be writing poetry.”	She’d laughed. “How do you know I don’t?
— B.J. Daniels, Renegade's Pride
Grant pressed his back against the outside wall of the turquoise and white two-story home he and a team of Miami PD officers were about to storm. On the surface the place fit in perfectly into the upper middle class neighborhood. On the inside, however, it was a fully functioning cocaine lab.
— Katie Reus, Danger Next Door
He didn’t know if he was amused or unsettled by her ability to unbalance him the way she had. Correction. He didn’t know if he was amused, unsettled or pleased by her ability.
— Ally Fleming, Conquered
Ya got to watch them bears, Lillie Girl,” her father said, looking worried, “ ‘specially the renegade ones. They’ll turn you every way but loose.
— B.J. Daniels, Renegade's Pride
Is that right?” she murmured.
— Katie Reus, Danger Next Door
Lillie woke to darkness an instant before a large warm hand clamped down over her mouth…
— B.J. Daniels, Renegade's Pride
Out of the military, out of the war, out of the only life they knew. Team Fear took the fall.
— Cindy Skaggs, Live By The Team
Mick was always the right kind of dirty. Windblown, fresh off his bike, wrapped in tattoo and leather. Muscles all the hell over the place. The man was a serious piece of eye candy. Thinking about him losing the leather warmed the chill that had gripped her since the attack.
— Cindy Skaggs, Unstoppable
Leather and tattoos, they were his cover, and she wondered what she’d find when she unwrapped him.
— Cindy Skaggs, Unstoppable
She’d pay good money for an up-close-and-personal tour of the tattoos that made him look like a badass biker.
— Cindy Skaggs, Unstoppable
She would not have another man push her aside like some appetizer, there to wet his whistle only to be left once the main dish arrived.No more. She pushed her thumb into his throat a little harder.
— Jacqueline Simon Gunn, Circle of Truth
My gut is telling me you're innocent." His gaze went to the gun and then back to her face. "Relatively innocent.
— Elizabeth Heiter, Bodyguard with a Badge