Alice Borchardt Quotes

Alice Borchardt delivers sharp, defiant remarks about love, power and desire.

60 quotes

1. Love doesn't go away because we want it to, but remains even when it becomes a searing pain, leaving the heart a desert of bitter remorse and grief for joy, a happiness that once has been and now never could return. There had been a time when simply to touch this little bit of linen he held now so casually brought every aching moment of that love back. The sense of desolate pain-drenched loss traveled up his arm, enclosing his heart like a set of icy fingers. A time when to look upon what it held was unbearable

2. Have I your word?' 'yes, you have my word. But, you don't believe me.' 'no, men's promises to women are easily made and even more easily broken.'

3. He knew he should be furious, but he couldn't sustain a decent rage around her. She had too much about her of the ferocious kitten. Something small and fuzzy, just learning it had claws and how to use them

4. She knew he was telling his soul what it needed to hear so that he could gather his courage to go and go what he must

5. Do you hate me so much?' 'no, I can't hate you. I wish I could, but I can't'

6. Elin wondered, sitting in the sweat bath, what that had to do with passion or desire, and decided - nothing. It was justification. They had murdered the men and must prove, on the helpless bodies of the women, that they were truly stronger. Prove it to exhaustion: not even pleasure was in it for them

7. I like a man willing to pay the price of his pleasures

8. I was angry with you about him, furious that he so much as set eyes on you. I would rather kill you than see you lie in his arms.' 'is that love then? A thing that leads to murder?' 'I don't know. In all honesty, I don't know. You're mine. What's mine I keep, I rule, and give my body over to defend. I offer you my honor, and my life. That's not an easy thing. Its within your power to break my pride, and take that life, insignificant though it is.' 'you put it very simply.' 'its not. Such a gift rouses strange passions, fears of treachery, and deep distrust. I'm not immune to them.' 'no one told me it would be like this. Perhaps it won't go into words, what I feel for you. Its not desire, yet I love your touch, the warm softness of your flesh against mine.'

9. So easily can we destroy those things we love. Had his moment of wounded pride, his stupid frenzy, snuffed out that fragile courage? Would the strong spirit that survived so much anguish be ended as easily as this?

10. The eyes were too intense, tortured almost. He was tall, but the body was wiry rather than powerful. Nature had gifted him with a cat's grace and lethal swiftness, rather than the raw power of a bull

11. There's no sense crying over what can't be changed' 'that's what people cry over, things they can't change'

12. Women are weak, easily swayed by passion, driven by desire, lust. He lit a fire in her body, a fire that still burned, even in his absence

13. Its easier to forget a thing without a name. I've learned to guard my affections.' 'I know, you've never asked mine.'

14. Know you, boy, women are like cats and must explore any new place until they are satisfied. If they don't they become weak and vain, fretful and ill

15. One who forced another was beneath contempt. One who needed to was despised

16. Some of the captured women killed themselves. I didn't. others yielded and learned to love their captors. I wouldn't do either one. I knew I would escape. Death is forever; to learn to love the hand that crushes you is a shame not to be borne. Pain and slavery will pass. I believed this and it kept me alive

17. You should leave that place, my girl' 'you know me better than that.' 'yes, I do. Too brave for your own good. Too brave now, I think.' 'would you have me any less?' 'I'm sorry. No, I wouldn't have you less.'

18. pleasure wouldn't exist without the sharp bite of pain. Even the brief flash of orgasm is too intense to be absolutely pleasurable

19. A hint of 'I'm so pleased that you strong, handsome, stalwart men are going to stand between my flower-like beauty and danger,' wouldn't hurt either

20. you're frightening me' 'be frightened. Sometimes its very intelligent to be afraid'

21. Desire was only another weapon, like hunger, loneliness, and cold arrayed against him by his tormentors

22. for when women take revenge, it is with all their hearts and souls, not to mention considerable inventiveness and ingenuity

23. He is tremendously strong, she thought, and liked the idea, even as she had feared that strength when she first met him

24. He smiled at her, and she felt uncomfortable as she always did when he showed her affection as opposed to lust. Lust she expected from a man but not affection. The men in her life, her brothers and father, had not been affectionate; and lust would have been inappropriate, though she saw them direct that at other women, usually women of low rank, ripe to be used and cast aside

25. He was magnificent, and I will never forget that in that moment, I first loved him. And I never stopped loving him. I do now and always will. No one ever brought me more sorrow or pain or joy than he did. No, nothing, not even my sons, has ever outweighed the love I feel and still feel for him. And I believe - had I known what the future held for us: all the trouble, torment, battle, and grief of our lives - I still believe that I would have yielded my heart into his keeping as I did then

26. Love is important, and woman being shrewd bargainers probably know fame is not worth much. I'd much rather have something I can spend, eat, or love, thank you very much

27. She was afraid of men, with good reason, but she need not fear all of them. Cai loved her and somehow always would. But above all, she could trust him, because dishonesty wasn't in him. Not always a good trait but a part of his nature. He kept faith without thinking about it at all. He couldn't imagine not doing so

28. Then he turned and walked away, and I gazed after him in sorrow. 'Don't look so, girl. He's the first to fall at your feet; he will not be the last'

29. And then he remembered that the other function of sex is punishment - men use it to humiliate women. And since turnabout is fair play, women often use it to humiliate men

30. I am no ordinary woman, and born to a different fate. I would not go whimpering.

31. It is human, I think, when we encounter the marvelous to try and bring away some of it with us

32. You, why do you let me say such things when and where I shouldn't?' 'the problem is not ordering the course of your speech. Its shutting you up in the first place'

33. Good practical intelligence. Why screech when there is no one to comfort you?

34. One day she would be a formidable female, a creature to be reckoned with

35. Don't flaunt your ignorance or try to insult me. I don't suffer fools gladly and insults irritate me

36. I apologize.' 'you aren't sorry and don't apologize.'

37. I wish. I don't know what I wish. That you were less I were more, perhaps. Yes, just possibly that's it

38. You are very lovely now and soon you will be beautiful. Ant not in an ordinary way. Youth is always beautiful, but you are like some creatures of fairy born to bring ill to mortals. Only trouble can follow such gifts

39. I saw he was now and always would be his own man

40. [he] was handsome. Just the sight of him stirred strange longings in me

41. till we meet again, my heart awaits you.' 'till we meet again, you will trouble my dreams'

42. some men know from birth that they are expendable: they fought to won. If you did not win, you did not run either

43. the little death. What would or could be left of a human being after such an experience?

44. God, to breathe. Air. You don't know what it means until you cannot take a breath

45. For what is a flower but life's expressed passion for itself. Sudden and brief, but certain and eternal at the same time

46. At worst, they were vile creatures who needed to be wiped from the face of the earth. At best, such behavior shows a dangerous lack of self-control. The first business of a warrior is self-restraint

47. He said truth has a taste, and this had the taste of truth. A wolf would put it that way, but I agree it does. Some things just don't hang together, but others do. And a lot of times when you encounter it, you say, 'I don't want this to be right, but it probably is, even though it brings me to grief.'

48. Shes direct enough

49. He was conscious that something in [his] personality bolstered his confidence and allowed him to rest, to seek peace and find it. He never game a name to it, and never spoke of it. And never, never would he have allowed himself or anyone to call it - love

50. Remember this central truth. Your enemy is there because he, too, has weighed the consequences of failure and accepts them. Play always to win, because nothing else matters

51. Thats the trouble. all i wanted was a tumble in the hay. oh, boy, i said. ill bet that cute thing is fun and games. what he doesnt know about the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees, i can sure teach him

52. He was, she thought, as beautiful as a young god, lying on his side among the grass and flowers

53. Everybody always knows where they stand with you, dont they?

54. Death alone gives meaning to life, and you will never fully live until you know you must die. And make your peace with that knowledge.

55. Be free always, because of all things, freedom is best, though it is not easily won and must be chosen by those who will enjoy it.

56. “So fair a victor, how can I help but be conquered.”

57. “‎Maeniel felt this was why all the great sages never wrote anything down. In the final analysis, scriptures are futile things, dependent as they are on the intentions of the interpreter. All too often too literal a mind can lead human students into strange follies. Sometimes it is better to allow the searchers to try to plumb the depths of the great mystery on their own and accept that not every one of those taking the road will see the same end.”

58. “If death be the last thing I do, why, I pray the gods and heroes of my people that I try to do it as well as I have done more pleasant things.”

59. “Love is eternal. That is its terror and its final beauty. Love never ends. The joy may go out of it, and, in time, even the pain may end. But it lingers like a living thing and follows you every moment of your life.”

60. “Humans, in their blindness, think intelligence has one path - theirs.”