Quotessence
Home / Topics / Historical Fiction Quotes

Historical Fiction Quotes

Browse 865 quotes about Historical Fiction.

Related topics

WritingStoriesPeopleThinking

Historical Fiction Quotes

“If I owned a volume, I would beg you to print ten thousand copies on your presses and distribute them in the streets of every city in Europe.” “You’d have to show me a way to make a profit from it first,” Quincy responded evenly. “Arch tilted his head and raised an eyebrow, returning to his book as he answered, “I would build an argument so enticing and passionate you couldn’t deny me.”

FictionFantasyHistorical FictionAlternate Reality
Book:The Q
Create image

“After some time, Fisher said, “Per aspera ad astra.” Quincy turned towards him. “What’s that?” “Latin. It means to the stars through difficulties.” By natural extension of the conversation, she looked up, viewing the faint points of light fighting down through a soft haze. “Does anyone make it, Fisher? To the stars?” “I believe we have, Quince. We’ve seen the worst but known the best.”

FictionFantasyHistorical FictionAlternate Reality
Book:The Q
Create image

“Arch leaned back into his chair, but he was entertaining a smile. “There are few things more tedious than a friend who will not graciously receive.” Quincy could have explained that nine years of poverty might have something to do with it, but instead she just replied, “You must find me maddening, then.” Arch’s mouth twitched. “You, ma chérie, are something else entirely.”

FictionFantasyHistorical FictionAlternate Reality
Book:The Q
Create image

“The spicy sweet fragrance of the large full blooms, which rambled over the side and top of an arched metal framework, welcomed them as they walked beneath them. Shafts of sunlight pierced the canopy, dust motes floating languorously in the golden beams that spotlighted clumps of wayward snowdrops growing in the lawn.”

Love StoryHistorical FictionMurder MysteryAntiques1920sTrue FriendshipsAntiques DealersMing StatueVictoria AustraliaDragon Statue
Book:The Dragon Sleeps
Create image

“Entry 3Å9Ø Father is upset again. Word has spread that a deserter went down to the planet before its first harvest. I don’t know why such information would upset him. The planet is not habitable for Tanyesi, and the coward will likely die alone. I suspect he simply doesn’t want the product to be disturbed before they’ve been collected, but he’s always been sensitive about the delicacy of the planet’s commodities. I guess I should try to learn from him if I’m ever going to take his place as The Supreme Leader.”

Historical FictionDystopian FictionYoung Adult SeriesAlien Invasion
Book:The Generational War
Create image

“Not knowing how he had come to sit behind the steering wheel, he considered driving into town for help but was too fucked up to walk much less commandeer Emma’s truck. The hike into the canyon where her body would be—500 feet beneath the Claw and at least a 90-minute jog from the truck—was too much to consider, the stream requiring being forded at least a dozen times. Paralyzed by indecision and the horror of seeing her jump, he pounded the steering wheel with palms, tears soaking his face, collecting like dew drops in the wiry strands of his beard. “What the fuck? What the fucking fuck? Goddammit Emma…” Desiring nothing other than to have her back, he felt the urge to lie down on the seat and cry himself into oblivion, having no more control over himself than he had over the way Powerball had spun the universe, spitting out random equations from a spinning cage. So maybe, his mind conspired, she didn’t jump and was still wandering around the Claw, lost, searching him out. But the image of her stretching her arms wide and leaping was crystalline in its authenticity, tangible and substantial. She’s not here. The voice returned, stripping earthly context from reality. Go look somewhere else. “...the other half found me stumbling around and drunk on burgundy wine,” the tape player shattered his thoughts as though someone had thrown a large rock through the windshield, the engine suddenly idling. Like it just happened on its own, there was no way he’d touched the key. Fumbling for the cassette deck’s knobs, he watched his hand disappear into the dash, lacking mass or substance, sensation, an immaterial thing dangling uselessly from the end of his arm. Outside the truck, the mountain and trees pivoted, the world turning on a spindle, the turnout giving way to the meadow and the rutted path back to the gate. Gooch watched the speedometer needle bounce back and forth, wind tumbling the dashboard trash and debris so that everything danced against the windshield in time to the music. “I’ll get up and fly away….”

ConsciousnessHistorical FictionUrban FantasyScifiMagical RealismQuantum PhysicsPsychedelicsGrateful DeadMarijuana Cultivation Philosophy
Book:A Rare and Different Tune: Book Two in the Powerball Trilogy
Create image

“Warm, gentle winds blew and blew, and the loamy soil swirled playfully about before shifting, oh, so slightly. Then, little by little, piece by piece, remnants of the City were unearthed by curious people who had come from faraway lands. A stone tablet, a shard of pottery, portions of a shattered statue and pieces of beautifully painted tiles. A bust of a woman, who could she possibly be?”

Historical FictionAncient EgyptAncient HistoryArcheologyAncient EgyptianNefertitiTutankhamunBiographical FictionAkhenatenAncient Artifacts
Book:Imagining Nefertiti
Create image

“And there goes that siren again,” grumbled Mr. Clay, putting down his paper. “Just as if we haven’t got Christmas bells, or carolers, or a goose to stuff, we must have an air raid, too!” This mild tirade was so unlike Mr. Clay that everyone in the room stopped to look at him. “Oh, get along with you all,” he ordered, waving his hands. “The boys have convinced me to take the night off, and look where it’s going to land me – the Anderson shelter!” “It’s going to be a tight squeeze,” Jozef admitted with a boyish grin. “What you call cozy, yes?” put in Jedrick mischievously. Mr. Clay grunted. “Very cozy.”

ChristmasHistorical FictionWwiiBombingCarolingBomb ShelterChristmas FictionTight Quarters
Book:Through the Darkness
Create image

“As they stepped out onto the bustling boulevard, the glow of the city lights reflected their shared sense of wonder. Paris, with its endless contradictions and eternal allure, was not just their backdrop but their muse, inspiring them to keep asking, keep seeking, and keep dreaming.”

FictionHistoryFantasyAdventureScience FictionContemporaryParisHistorical FictionAncient HistoryArcheology
Book:The Heirs of the Lost Legacy: A Modern Odyssey in a Forgotten Past
Create image

“Anna sat down and studied her brothers. Both were nearly six feet tall. The older, Addison, was muscular with a darker shade of brown hair compared to the younger, blue-eyed Purl, who was leaner and lighter complexioned. Anna noticed that Purl’s wrists showed below his shirt and coat jacket, hand-me-downs from the uncles. All eight children had trouble adjusting after their parents’ death, but Purl’s situation was the most regrettable—three foster homes since he was fifteen. The moves had been hard on him emotionally. Anna suffered too. She’d felt helpless that she was too young to take him herself, and had watched him slowly lose his youthful vigor.”

Historical FictionWomen S FictionMilitary HistoryFamily SagaHollywood CultureAviation HistoryPhilippine HistoryCalifornia HistorySan Antonio History
Book:Yours in a Hurry: A novel
Create image

“History is often told through grand events and famous names. I wanted to tell a story about the people who rarely make the headlines—the ones who got up every day, did the work in front of them, and quietly moved the world forward one field, one family, one small-town decision at a time.”

Historical FictionFamily HistoryWesterns19th Century America
Book:The Ordinary Grit: Courage Under an Unforgiving Sky
Create image

“The defenders retreated, but in good order. A musket flamed and a ball shattered a marine’s collar bone, spinning him around. The soldiers screamed terrible battle-cries as they began their grim job of clearing the defenders off the parapet with quick professional close-quarter work. Gamble trod on a fallen ramrod and his boots crunched on burnt wadding. The French reached steps and began descending into the bastion. 'Bayonets!' Powell bellowed. 'I want bayonets!' 'Charge the bastards!' Gamble screamed, blinking another man's blood from his eyes. There was no drum to beat the order, but the marines and seamen surged forward. 'Tirez!' The French had been waiting, and their muskets jerked a handful of attackers backwards. Their officer, dressed in a patched brown coat, was horrified to see the savage looking men advance unperturbed by the musketry. His men were mostly conscripts and they had fired too high. Now they had only steel bayonets with which to defend themselves. 'Get in close, boys!' Powell ordered. 'A Shawnee Indian named Blue Jacket once told me that a naked woman stirs a man's blood, but a naked blade stirs his soul. So go in with the steel. Lunge! Recover! Stance!' 'Charge!' Gamble turned the order into a long, guttural yell of defiance. Those redcoats and seamen, with loaded weapons discharged them at the press of the defenders, and a man in the front rank went down with a dark hole in his forehead. Gamble saw the officer aim a pistol at him. A wounded Frenchman, half-crawling, tried to stab with his sabre-briquet, but Gamble kicked him in the head. He dashed forward, sword held low. The officer pulled the trigger, the weapon tugged the man's arm to his right, and the ball buzzed past Gamble's mangled ear as he jumped down into the gap made by the marines charge. A French corporal wearing a straw hat drove his bayonet at Gamble's belly, but he dodged to one side and rammed his bar-hilt into the man's dark eyes. 'Lunge! Recover! Stance!”

WarFictionHistoryHistorical FictionAssaultFrench RevolutionMilitary HistoryEbookBritish ArmyFortressMaltaRoyal NavyRoyal Marines
Book:Heart of Oak
Create image

“Aidan and Kai were almost the same height, but frequently Kai seemed smaller, even less mature. Aidan couldn't completely explain it. Certainly, Kai had suffered far less in his life. Aidan wondered how Kai would have coped with the horrors he himself had endured, and allowed himself a cold smile at the thought of the bookish Kai chained in a screwship's dark hold, squirming in his own shit.”

SlaveryHistorical FictionAlternate HistoryMetaAlternate Universe
Book:Lion's Blood
Create image

“His touch felt like coming back, and Quincy realized she had been waiting for it. When he pulled away, both of his hands now on the sides of her face, his eyes searching hers for answers, Quincy nodded then wrapped her arms around him. She pressed her face to his chest, and his response was to gather her to him, saying something she couldn't her. And there it was, the heartbeat she had heard the night of the Fothergils' ball, pulsing again in the shell of her ear. Quincy closed her eyes from relief. It gave her the same comfort the sound of the press gave her. It was a familiar machine.”

Young AdultHistorical FictionNew AdultAlternate History
Book:The Q
Create image

“I told one of the writers that our fields were so nearly vertical that we planted our corn with a shotgun and had to breed a race of mules with legs shorter on one side than the other for plowing. And when he asked how we transported the corn down off the mountain, I said, in a jug. He appeared to believe me, so I was encouraged to go on and tell him that every church in that corner of the state, except our Indian congregation, either conducted services speaking entirely in tongues or else took up serpents as recommended by Jesus. Both the writer and I had taken a few rounds of Scotch at the time. The story appeared as fact in a well-known national periodical, along with the obligatory descriptions of the beauty and ruggedness and unmatched remoteness and mystery of our mountains.”

Historical FictionFarm LifeTragicomedySouthern GothicSardonic HumorLocals And Tourism
Book:Thirteen Moons
Create image

“He tells you to play, so you play. He tells you to curtsy, so you curtsy. He tells you what you are meant to do and what you are meant not to do, so you do and you do not. He tells you not to be angry, so you smile, you turn your eyes down, you are quiet and do exactly as he says in the hopes that this is what he wants, then one night you realise that you have given him so much of yourself that you are nothing but the curtsy and the smile and the quiet. That you are nothing.”

InspirationalHistoryHistorical FictionSibling RelationshipsBased On Real EventsSibling BondHistorical Fiction Novel
Book:The Kingdom of Back
Create image

“Anna shouted, “Help me! I’m naked and covered in honey!” Wolf slid across the kitchen tile, heading for the basement stairs like Hermes in a footrace. “Hold tight, honeybun! Here I come!” Joe Singer charged behind him with the lantern. Wolf was not going to see Anna in her honey, even if he had to shoot him. This was not police work. This was personal. He hurled himself at Wolf. “She’s my girl!” “Not anymore!”

MysteryHistorical FictionHistorical Fiction MysteryEdwardian EraThe Woman In The Camphor Trunk
Book:The Woman in the Camphor Trunk
Create image

“Anna lifted her chin, “Forgive my interruption, Mr. President, but I am Assistant Matron Anna Blanc, and I’ve come about the singsong girls.” She remembered herself and bowed. No one bowed back. They simply stared at her. After a moment, Tom Foo Yuen said, in his tar-thick accent, “You are a brave, strange woman, Matron Blanc.” Anna had heard that before.”

RomanceHistorical FictionChinatownEdwardian EraHistorical MysteryThe Woman In The Camphor TrunkAnna BlancHistorical Novel Mystery
Book:The Woman in the Camphor Trunk
Create image