Most Romantic Lines Ever

Happy Valentines Day to our dear readers! To celebrate this romantic day, we’re sharing our favorite romantic line with you.

Share your own favorite lives with us in the comments!

 


Mary SimonsenConvincing Mr. Darcy“You make it sound as if my wish is your command,” Darcy told Elizabeth. “It is not. Every heart sings a song, incomplete, until another heart whispers back.” “Sir?” a confused Elizabeth asked. Darcy was as confused as she. He had not anticipated a quote from Plato welling up inside him. 

Melanie Stanford – Mine is pretty obvious, but I think it’s one of the most romantic lines ever written. I put it in my own novel, SWAY, and I even have it on a t-shirt!

“You pierce my soul. I am half agony, half hope.” ~ from Persuasion

 Katie Oliver – One of my favorite Jane Austen quotes is this one, from Pride and Prejudice:

“I cannot fix on the hour, or the spot, or the look or the words, which laid the foundation. It is too long ago. I was in the middle before I knew what I had begun.” – Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Another favorite Austen quote (I’m allowed one more, aren’t I? Please?) is this, from Love and Friendship: “The very first moment I beheld him, my heart was irrevocably gone.”

 Jack CaldwellThe Three Colonels – Colonel Brandon is saying farewell to his wife, Marianne, as he leaves Delaford to join the Duke of Wellington at Waterloo:

[Brandon] then looked Marianne in the eye. “As God is my witness, I shall come back to you, though Hell itself bars the door,” he said in a voice just for her ears.

“Go, my Odysseus,” she said, eyes gleaming. “And like Penelope, I shall faithfully await your return.”

L.L. DiamondThe Earl’s Conquest – A quote from my favorite couple other than Darcy and Elizabeth!

“My heart bound itself to yours when your eyes upbraided me on that hill for disturbing your dance. Since that moment, my affection has grown with every minute, every hour, and every day.” He cleared his throat as he fingered the bow upon the bodice of her gown. “When it became a deep, abiding love, I am uncertain. I was infatuated one moment and ardently in love the next.”

Marilyn Brant – According to Jane – This is the part of the story where Sam asks Ellie for a dance at her sister’s wedding. It’s a play on one of my favorite Pride and Prejudice lines — the one where Darcy tells Elizabeth that her family owes him nothing. That he was thinking only of her:

I say to Sam, “We’ll pay you back, of course, but—”
“No, you won’t.” Sam brings my fingers to his lips and starts to sway as if we’re beginning to dance. “Consider it my wedding gift to your sister.”
“Quite a wedding gift.”
“Quite a wedding,” he replies, eyeing Di and Alex with a raised brow. “Besides, my motives were ultimately selfish. I really was only thinking of you, Ellie…and how much I wanted to dance with you tonight.”

Colette L. Saucier – The Proud & the Prejudiced – In this modern twist on our favourite tale, Alice and Peter are Elizabeth and Darcy, and New Orleans is… Rosings??

Alley in the French Quarter

Peter dragged Alice out onto Bourbon Street. She had no idea where he was taking her at this frantic pace, navigating through the crowds on the street and sidewalk, and everything happened too quickly for her to wonder or protest. Then he led her into an empty alley; but halfway down, he stopped and turned around. They were both breathing heavily from the exertion, and a sheen of sweat glistened on his forehead.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I can’t take it anymore.”
He wrapped his arms around her, brought her tight against his body, and covered her mouth with his. A sensation she could only identify as relief flooded through her, relief in finally getting something she didn’t even know she had been needing.

Diana Birchall – The passage that has always “pierced my soul” the most in Jane Austen is also from Persuasion. But it is not Captain Wentworth’s letter of entreaty itself, but what Anne thinks when he places it before her.

“On the contents of that letter depended all which this world could do for her.”

This might seem overstated, unlikely, in our world today, when women have so many options in their lives. But for Anne Elliot, no career was open, there was nothing ahead for her but a miserable life living as an uncared-for spinster with her ghastly father and sister. She was already at the age when her prospects for matrimony were nearly closed; and even more certainly, her heart was closed against any other man than Captain Wentworth. If she did not marry him, she would never marry. So when she thinks that the letter holds all which this world can do for her – or not – this is the complete truth. She does not know which it is: she will find out her fate in a single moment. And what a dramatic moment it is for her, and for us, the reader!

 Maria Grace- One of my favorite romantic lines is from Mistaking Her Character, between Darcy and Elizabeth.

In a single motion, his lips met hers, so warm and demanding, hungry. She surrendered into him and allowed her passion to flow, unchecked. Oh, that spot on her neck—how could he know what she herself did not? He kindled a craving for something she could not even name? If only he might never stop, holding, touching, kissing her.

He pulled back, panting, and rested his forehead on hers. “No woman has ever brought me to the edge of self-control as you have. You are the completion of everything I am, and I want it all so badly I can taste it. But you have had far too much taken from you. Though you might even give me what I most dearly desire now, we cannot begin our lives together that way. You are worthy of every respect, of everything right and proper. Though it may kill me, we shall wait.”

The strain in his eyes was too real for his words to be hollow.

So, this was what it meant to be truly loved.

Kara Louise – It was hard to choose, but this is from Mr. Darcy’s Rival when Darcy has just kissed Elizabeth.

“I suppose it would have been more proper for me to have allowed you to express your opinion of me before I kissed you.” His voice resonated throughout her.

Elizabeth pulled her head away from his chest and looked up at him with a mischievous grin. “Could you not ascertain my feelings from our kiss?”

Darcy smiled. “I fear my hopes have been too strong for me to speculate reasonably. I have fed my hopes with your warm smiles, dancing eyes, and most amiable manner towards me. What I discerned from kissing your lips was you welcomed it, but…” He drew in a breath and exhaled with a low moan. “I would prefer to hear from your lips your opinion of me.” He drew himself erect and straightened his shoulders. “I am now ready to hear whatever you would tell me.”

And we all know how she answers him.

 

Nicole Clarkston- Love is a verb, and in Rumours & Recklessness, Darcy fought hard to win Elizabeth Bennet’s affections. When at last he did, she gave him the whole of her heart and all her tender care. The following is a short scene where Elizabeth helps warm and dry him after a wet ride to see her.

“Edified by the care and devotion of such a noble woman, he at long last felt worthy of all the accolades showered upon him since his birth. He would forever after hold his head high among men; not because of any merit of his own, but because she declared her estimation of his virtues in her every look and gesture. The dam holding back the tide of his feelings burst, and he was overswept by such a drowning flood of love for her that he could scarcely draw breath.”

I leave you with these treasured lines from Emma

“I cannot make speeches, Emma… If I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more. But you know what I am.—You hear nothing but truth from me.—I have blamed you, and lectured you, and you have borne it as no other woman in England would have borne it.— Bear with the truths I would tell you now, dearest Emma, as well as you have borne with them. The manner, perhaps, may have as little to recommend them. God knows, I have been a very indifferent lover.— But you understand me.—Yes, you see, you understand my feelings—and will return them if you can. At present, I ask only to hear, once to hear your voice….

He had ridden home through the rain; and had walked up directly after dinner, to see how this sweetest and best of all creatures, faultless in spite of all her faults, bore the discovery.
…She was his own Emma, by hand and word, when they returned into the house; and if he could have thought of Frank Churchill then, he might have deemed him a very good sort of fellow.”

21 comments

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    • Carol hoyt on February 14, 2017 at 12:34 am
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    Authors……thank you!

    1. 🙂

    • Mary on February 14, 2017 at 2:32 am
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    Two words -Simply Wonderful!! 😉

    1. So glad you’ve enjoyed!

    • Anji on February 14, 2017 at 5:12 am
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    When it comes to Jane Austen’s own worls, there’s so many romantic lines worth quoting, especially from P&P and Persuasion. Hiw about this from “The Letter”:

    “I have loved none but you. Unjust I may have been, weak and resentful I have been, but never inconstant. You alone have brought me to Bath. For you alone, I think and plan.”

    1. Totally a fan of ‘The Letter’ here too!

    • Sheila L. Majczan on February 14, 2017 at 8:49 am
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    I am on the edge of crying. So very lovely. Happy Valentine’s Day to all those in this community who show love…maybe not man to woman but friend to friend. Thank you for sharing these romantic lines on this special day.

    1. Thanks so much, Sheila!

    2. XOXO to you, Sheila! Happy Valentine’s Day 🙂 .

    • Linda Clark on February 14, 2017 at 9:20 am
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    I have to agree “The Letter” contains some of the most romantic lines I have ever read! Certainly, Darcy loves Elizabeth, but the love Frederick had for Anne buried in his heart for eight years only to be reunited and renewed is a testament to his constancy. …there is also Anne’s reflection after soon being in Frederick’s company …”there could have been no two hearts so open, no tastes so similar, no feelings so in unison, no countenances so beloved.”

    1. I so agree Linda!

    • StephanieL on February 14, 2017 at 10:49 am
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    Lovely choices authors!! Nicole has already listed my favorite from Emma. *le sigh* Mr. Knightley. But S&S is my second favorite. Even though I still think Elinor should have been given a shot at Col. Brandon. LOL I am a bit of an Elinor, so I can appreciate this.

    I’ve always thought Edward’s line at the end of S&S was very romantic in the straightforward way of we introverts and practical types. 🙂

    “Elinor could sit it no longer. She almost ran out of the room, and as soon as the door was closed, burst into tears of joy, which at first she thought would never cease.” Not in the room with him sitting there…behind closed doors (although the books hints he could still hear her)
    “I come here with no expectations, only to profess, now that I am at liberty to do so, that my heart is and always will be…yours.” (He doesn’t assume she’ll fall into his arms after everything, but he wants her to know that he really wasn’t inconstant, just non-confrontational.)

    1. I love this, Stephanie!! Thank you <3.

    2. Elinor could sit it no longer is another great favorite of mine, Stephanie!

  1. Love all the choices, plus the ones in the comments! The “letter” will always be my favorite though. *swoons*

    • Susan Mason-Milks on February 14, 2017 at 1:43 pm
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    I’m a little late to the party, but here’s my contribution.
    “I love you,” he said softly.
    Putting her arms around his neck, she [Elizabeth] pulled him down onto the bed with her. Slowly, taking his time, he made sure his lips conveyed the exact extent of his regard. – Mr. Darcy’s Proposal

  2. Such a wonderful collection of favorite romantic lines.

    It’s so hard to choose a favorite!! It’s like asking me to choose a favorite among my four children.

    But I love Darcy’s reply to Elizabeth’s comment that he could have talked to her more when he had come to dinner: “A man who had felt less, might.” 🙂

    Thank you for this wonderful post and all of the delicious quotations!

    Happy Saint Valentine’s Day!
    ~Susanne 🙂

    • Carole in Canada on February 14, 2017 at 4:21 pm
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    Thank you…

    • Lena on February 14, 2017 at 4:35 pm
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    I have read so many variations on Pride and Prejudice that most of them blend together in my mind. There are several that sound out, but if I quoted them all this post would be quite long, so I shall content myself with one.

    “Elizabeth, if in any small part of yourself, be it the most minute corner of your soul, you in truth wanted to be with me, I would be…beyond pleased.” -Mr. Darcy, The Last Man in the World, Abigail Reynolds

    I love how Mr. Darcy, for all his reserve, lays himself bare for Elizabeth. Even in Pride and Prejudice, he is brave enough to open a vein and declare his feelings a second time after his first, disastrous proposal.

    Thanks for sharing, you guys! I loved reading all of your favorite quotes!

    Lastly: Is it really weird that quite possibly my favorite line in all of Pride and Prejudice is when Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth are dancing at the Netherfield ball and Elizabeth is trying to “sketch his character” and she does not comply with his request to postpone the conversation, and he says, “I would by no means suspend any pleasure of yours.” It’s so polite and so cold at the same time, it gives me chills. I wish we still spoke this way.

    • Glynis on February 14, 2017 at 6:30 pm
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    Oh no! How can I pick one from all the wonderful books I have read. Well I was lucky enough to win a signed copy of The Subsequent Proposal by Joana Starnes and I was especially pleased as the back of the book has the most romantic quote: ‘I cannot forsake you! I cannot! I cannot lose you! I cannot bear to think of a life without you, tis not worth living, tis but a slow death! I cannot lose you! I beg you do not send me away again! I love you Elizabeth, I love you’ given the time and space I could come up with a number of wonderful quotes to add to this one and the ones you quoted above. Thanks for this post.

    • Linda Thompson on February 15, 2017 at 12:13 pm
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    Such lovely thoughts. Thanks for sharing your inspirations of romance.

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