To anyone with a drop of Irish blood in them the land they live on is like their mother. It's the only thing that lasts, that's worth working for, fo…

- Alexandra Ripley

But you know who you are when you're on your own out there in all that emptiness. There's no past, no holding on to the scraps that are all you've go…

- Alexandra Ripley

Books have become products, like cereal or perfume or deodorant.

- Alexandra Ripley

It's the centuries, Scarlett darling. All the life lived there, all the joy and all the sorrow, all the feasts and battles, they're in the air around…

- Alexandra Ripley

If only' repeated again and again in her head like a battering ram...'if only' could break your heart.

- Alexandra Ripley

Should-haves solve nothing. It's the next thing to happen that needs thinking about.

- Alexandra Ripley

You belong with me, Scarlett, haven't you figured that out? And the world is where we belong, all of it. We're not home-and-hearth people. We're the …

- Alexandra Ripley

One of the injustices of the world was that it was so easy to make the innocent and caring ones happy with so little.

- Alexandra Ripley

And if things always stayed the same, Scarlett, what would be the reason for bothering to draw breath?

- Alexandra Ripley