Historical Fiction Quotes

“I stood still, vision blurring, and in that moment, I heard my heart break. It was a small, clean sound, like the snapping of a flower's stem.”
― Diana Gabaldon, Dragonfly in Amber

“There is no law that gods must be fair, Achilles,” Chiron said. “And perhaps it is the greater grief, after all, to be left on earth when another is gone. Do you think?”
― Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles

“The moisture in the air sat in the crevices of storefront windows, like the tears that welled in the corners of her dark brown eyes.”
― Jennifer Wizbowski, Poinsettia Girl: The Story of Agata della Pieta

“If you can walk with the crowd and keep your virtue, or walk with Kings-nor lose the common touch; If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you; If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute with 60 seconds worth of distance run- Yours is the earth and everything that's in it, And-which is more-you'll be a man my son.”
― Rudyard Kipling, If: A Father's Advice to His Son

“It had happened. Thucydides, his archrival, was a general. Glaucon, from his own tribe, was a general. And Pericles was no longer a general. He was just a citizen with one vote. And an idea”
― Yvonne Korshak, Pericles and Aspasia: A Story of Ancient Greece

“Good men are often more practical than pretty " said Mother. "Andrius just happens to be both.”
― Ruta Sepetys, Between Shades of Gray

“The music felt like a special gift from Ted, a view into his soul.”
― Marcia Breece, The Last Bottle

“But just then, for that fraction of time, it seems as though all things are possible. You can look across the limitations of your own life, and see that they are really nothing. In that moment when time stops, it is as though you know you could undertake any venture, complete it and come back to yourself, to find the world unchanged, and everything just as you left it a moment before. And it's as though knowing that everything is possible, suddenly nothing is necessary.”
― Diana Gabaldon, Outlander

“This stated, “Dear Mr. Prime Minister, I am delighted by the decision of your government to provide an infantry battalion for service in South Vietnam at the request of the Government of South Vietnam” The simple fact about this was that no such request was ever received by the Australian Government.”
― Michael G. Kramer, A Gracious Enemy

“The artillery fire which helped in holding off the enemy advance against the Australian positions appeared to be getting always closer. A radio operator called Vic Grice somehow replaced the antenna on Buick’s radio. That had been shot off, thus rendering the radio in-operational.”
― Michael G. Kramer, A Gracious Enemy

“How did I become President?
I began by setting an example, hanging out my own dirty laundry in front of Village Earth right from the start. Every ugly little life secret became a matter of public record. Of course, that included sordid love-life details.”
― Nancy Omeara, The Most Popular President Who Ever Lived [So Far]

“The adrenaline rush subsides as it becomes harder to catch your breath. You become light headed, then dizzy and confused as the air runs out. Reason and sense evaporate as the darkness claims you. That is how it felt to be a Tunnel Rat.”
― Michael G. Kramer, A Gracious Enemy

“The Minister of Army answered, “Bob, I thought that you would have been an astute and clever enough a politician to think of this yourself, but seeing how you have asked me, I suggest that you wait until eight in the night on Thursday 29/April/1965 to announce that Australia will send the First Battalion Royal Australian Regiment to fight in South Vietnam. By you waiting until the evening of 29/April/1965 to announce this in Parliament, the labour opposition leader of Arthur Caldwell and his deputy leader of Gough Whitlam should be absent, as will be most of the entire parliament, because the following day is the beginning of a long week-
end. You are legally not required to give advanced warning to the house, so you can easily get away with this!”
― Michael G. Kramer, A Gracious Enemy & After the War Volume One

“To see the years touch ye gives me joy," he whispered, "for it means that ye live.”
― Diana Gabaldon (Jamie Fraser)

“The American generals could only think in terms of large armies and huge battles. They believed or hoped that an enemy who chose to hide in jungles and tunnels would quickly be flushed out by American fire-power and then die in open battle.”
― Michael G. Kramer, A Gracious Enemy

“As well, they used their B-52 bombers to drop thousands of tons of bombs which included napalm and cluster bombs. In a particularly vile attack, they used poisonous chemicals on our base regions of Xuyen Moc, the Minh Dam and the Nui Thi Vai mountains. They sprayed their defoliants over jungle, and productive farmland alike. They even bull-dozed bare, both sides along the communication routes and more than a kilometre into the jungle adjacent to our base areas.
This caused the Ba Ria-Long Khanh Province Unit to send out a directive to D445 and D440 Battalions that as of 01/November/1969, the rations of both battalions would be set at 27 litres of rice per man per month when on operations. And 25 litres when in base or training.
So it was that as the American forces withdrew, their arms and lavish base facilities were transferred across to the RVN. The the forces of the South Vietnamese Government were with thereby more resources but this also created any severe maintenance, logistic and training problems.
The Australian Army felt that a complete Australian withdrawal was desirable with the departure of the Task Force (1ATF), but the conservative government of Australia thought that there were political advantages in keeping a small force in south Vietnam.
Before his election, in 1964, Johnston used a line which promised peace, but also had a policy of war. The very same tactic was used by Nixon. Nixon had as early as 1950 called for direction intervention by American Forces which were to be on the side of the French colonialists.
The defoliants were sprayed upon several millions of hectares, and it can best be described as virtual biocide. According to the figure from the Americans themselves, between the years of 1965 to 1973, ten million Vietnamese people were forced to leave their villages ad move to cities because of what the Americans and their allies had done.
The Americans intensified the bombing of whole regions of Laos which were controlled by Lao patriotic forces. They used up to six hundred sorties per day with many types of aircraft including B52s.
On 07/January/1979, the Vietnamese Army using Russian built T-54 and T-59 tanks, assisted by some Cambodian patriots liberated Phnom Penh while the Pol Pot Government and its agencies fled into the jungle. A new government under Hun Sen was installed and the Khmer Rouge’s navy was sunk nine days later in a battle with the Vietnamese Navy which resulted in twenty-two Kampuchean ships being sunk.”
― Michael G. Kramer, A Gracious Enemy

“Cung went to his section commander Corporal Binh Chien Bui and spoke to him. He said, “Binh, come quickly, something strange is going on!”

(A Gracious Enemy & After the War Volume Two)”
― Michael G. Kramer

“You know what they say?” Nonna paused, “The character of the Venetian people is like the tide.”
― Jennifer Wizbowski, Poinsettia Girl: The Story of Agata della Pieta

“Someday, you will see that you are capable and strong enough to live all on your own. But for now, you needn’t worry. Your Nonna has enough snap in her, and you will stay right here where I can protect you.”
― Jennifer Wizbowski, Poinsettia Girl: The Story of Agata della Pieta

“Even whispers were not tolerated in the Pietà when someone else was speaking.”
― Jennifer Wizbowski, Poinsettia Girl: The Story of Agata della Pieta

“It hardly felt real that she was gone, though the heavy pain Agata had carried for weeks reminded her, sitting like too many sweets in her stomach; that and the black fabric, the black everywhere.”
― Jennifer Wizbowski, Poinsettia Girl: The Story of Agata della Pieta

“The excitement of the festivities escalated along with the darkening skies of winter, providing the perfect backdrop of secrecy and seduction that Venice was known for.”
― Jennifer Wizbowski, Poinsettia Girl: The Story of Agata della Pieta

“The sky was stark, stale, and gray. The air, cold.”
― Jennifer Wizbowski, Poinsettia Girl: The Story of Agata della Pieta

“Demoralize the enemy from within by surprise, terror, sabotage, assassination. This is the war of the future.”
― Hermann Rauschning, The Voice of Destruction

“No human figures were in the painting; had there been, and she would have removed them by repositioning the painting.”
― Isham Cook, The Tao of Poison

“Jimmy’s dog tag clinked as he almost slid right into her. Teenagers wore dog tags in case New York was bombed and they needed to be identified if killed or injured. Mrs. McCorkle, the O’Shaughnessy’s immediate next door neighbor, had insisted on a dog tag for Jimmy.”
― A.G. Russo, The Cases Nobody Wanted

“The filigreed iron gates of the Navy Yard were open wide between two pillars that featured large spread-winged eagles on orbs. Men were standing around as women came out together in their overalls after their shifts. Before the war women didn’t work at the Navy Yard, but with men joining up or drafted and a new campaign with a poster of 'Rosie the Riveter' it did its job encouraging woman to work outside the home for the war effort.”
― A.G. Russo, The Cases Nobody Wanted

“It was all about the G.I.s overseas. As the war became more of a reality and blue stars on windows were turning to gold stars indicating a soldier’s death, the tensions at home were increasing. Giving what little they could for the war effort was often an act of desperation. Some people made pacts with God to bring their men home hoping beyond hope that it made a difference.”
― A.G. Russo, The Cases Nobody Wanted

“I felt hot under my Mutton sleeves. "I just wish he'd have the decency to say whatever he came to say in front of his wife."
"Perhaps his wife is busy today."
"She shouldn't be." His wife should track him like a bloodhound.”
― Diana Forbes, Mistress Suffragette

“I wished he'd stop trying to put me off. It was becoming irksome. Or, if he were, then he really needed to stop acting so damned charming.”
― Diana Forbes, Mistress Suffragette