On the Third Day of Pink Carnation…
My author gave to me… three Pink Carnation mugs!
Here’s your question: What is your favorite Pink Carnation quotation?
The line can be from any of the books (although extra props for “Mistletoe”!).
Three winners will be chosen at random to receive a Pink Carnation mug in one of the designs pictured below. Huge thanks to Sheila for the contest idea!
My favourite line, without a doubt, is from Mistletoe: “She was, not to put too fine a point on it, average. Not ugly, not striking, with eye-coloured eyes and hair-coloured hair”.
That line absolutely cracked me up.
My favorite line comes from Miss Gwen in the Deception of the Emerald Ring… I love how she yells to Geoff “Your first child Pinchingdale!” as he goes to save Letty and then proceeds to kick open a chicken coop and attack some rebels with her parasol.
My favourite line comes from The Temptation of the Night jasmine. I love the scene where Eloise is sneaking around Colin’s study trying to find clues to what he does for a living. “Blinking in the avalanche of light, I twisted this way and that, like a comical cat burglar in one of the Pink Panther movies.” Makes me laugh every time I read it!
“Has anyone ever told you that you haggle divinely? That the simple beauty of your self-interest is enough to bring a man to his knees?”
Mary couldn’t in honesty say that anyone had.
Vaughn’s eyes were as hard and bright as silver coins. “Those are the reasons I want you. I want you for your cunning mind and your hard heart, for your indomitable spirit and your scheming soul, for they’re more honest by far than any of the so-called virtues.”
I’m such a sap.
Turnip, proving his classical education at England’s finest public school was NOT wasted, attempts to unravel for Arabella the complicated family relationships of the early Roman emperors, while she is supervising the annual
Christmas pageant. “Makes for good reading though. Nothing like the odd orgy to get a chap learning Latin.”
How could anyone not love this man?
I don’t ususally remember quotes but this one made me snicker and giggle out loud to myself. It’s from Mischief of the Mistletoe. It’s when Turnip is first introducing Sally and her friends to Arabella. …”Oh, this is Miss Dempsey. Miss Dempsey, my sister Sally and her two most peculiar friends.”
“You mean my two most particular friends,” corrected Sally through gritted teeth.
And my other favorite is from Turnip again, “Don’t you know.”
Does it count if I say anytime Turnip says “Havey Cavey” or “That’s a dueced bother”? Because it feels like he says that often.
Pretty much anything that comes out of Vaughn’s mouth is worth quoting, but two of his most memorable snarks and my absolute faves are from The Seduction of the Crimson Rose:
“Yet, my dear Miss Wooliston, is a treacherous jade. She’ll lead you astray if you let her.”
“You must think I am very green,” she said gently.
“Oh, not so very green.” Lord Vaughn’s eyes danced silver. “Just a trifle chartreuse around the edges.”
Oh, there are so many good ones! I do like when Turnip says, “Dueced havey-cavey.”
But my favorites are in the Masques of the Balck Tulip:
There was nothing whatsoever grand or dramatic in the way Henrietta felt about Miles. It was a very simple concept really: She just didn’t want to share him with anyone. Ever.
It was ludicrous. If she did harbor deeper feelings for Miles, wouldn’t she have known sooner? Wouldn’t she have felt odd constrictions of the heart as he snatched biscuits out from in front of her, and turned cartwheels in the duck pond?
It had always been Miles.
I also love all the bunny the bunny comments.
There are a lot of good ones. One of my favorites is in the Crimson Rose when eloise and colin are on their date and eloise says
“Did you really think I was interested in you only for your papers?”
It wasn’t until colin raised one eyebrow, looking as smug as Lord Vaughn at his very smuggest, that I realized just what I had let slip.
I also thought the part about seductively spitting out olive pits was funny.
There are so many good ones, it’s hard to choose! But this one I love comes from The Pink Carnation, Miss Gwen to Bonaparte:
“Sir! Take that hand out of your jacket!It’s rude and it ruins your posture. A man of your diminutive stature needs to stand up straight.”
Ha! Love it 🙂
Probably because I found Geoff’s horrible poetry adorably funny (even if inspired by the wrong girl at first), I loved the scene when in Black Tulip Miles finds him at White’s:
“If – tap – to love me – tap – I could the – tap – entice…”
“It would be very, very nice?” suggested Miles
I’ve loaned out my copy of Mistletoe already, so I don’t know the exact quote, but I also love when Turnip is talking to Arabella about “when a fellow asks you to start sticking carnations in your waistcoat”, or something along those lines, referring to Geoff asking him to serve as a sort of Pink Carnation Decoy without explicitly telling him that’s what he’s doing. Only Turnip would be a good enough friend to just do it without question. Such a sweetheart.
Two of my favorites are from Mistletoe and said by Turnip, he is so adorable.
“Mistress of my heart, and all that,” said Turnip cheerfully, his eyes on the pistol. “Well-schooled in affection. Tutored in–”
and I think my all time favorite…
“Well, it’s certainly not a toothache.”
I think mine is a description of Jane when she’s talking to Vaughn at the beginning of Crimson Rose: “Knowing well the power of judicious silence, Jane chose not to answer. She simply continued to look at him, with an expression of calm conviction designed to persuade most men that they had always agreed with her in the first place and were simply being given time to voice it.”
And to throw in Mistletoe, I love when Arabella asks Turnip after he saves her, “Why were you carrying a pudding?” It just makes me smile.
And thanks to reading Mistletoe, I now use “dueced” more frequently than anyone from the 21st century should.
Anything dealing with Hen and her bunny called “Bunny” given to her my Miles! Cracked me up!!
Not sure of the exact quote, but Miles and the ginger biscuits!
“Dinner. Saturday. Eight o’clock.” “I had a date with Colin! A real date with Colin!”
“Captain Pinchingdale’s sideburns offend me.”
He was jealous at his own damn self, or something along those lines!
I could go on and on but I love your books so very much and they make me laugh loudly to myself 😀
This one HAS to be my all-time favorite. No wait, okay, it’s one of two. And guess what? Both from Miles. Surprise, surprise!
1) “Stwyth?” She whispered to Miles.
“He’s from Wales,” Miles whispered back. “They haven’t discovered vowels yet.”
2) “Miles was still mourning the loss of his Romantic Plan. ‘There was going to be champagne, and oysters, and you’ — he held out both hands as though shifting a piece of furniture — ‘were going to be sitting there, and I was going to get down on one knee, and…and…”
I heart Miles.
At the moment, my favorite part(s) is anytime Turnip is trying to find some mistletoe to stand under. The best quote I could find to this effect was from Arabella’s POV:
“Turnip shifted from one foot to the other, staring pointedly at the ceiling. There was a spring of mistletoe dangling from the doorway above him.”
Mistletoe: the only way to steal a kiss and remain a gentleman while doing so.
My favorite still has to be from The Secret History when Amy and Richard are talking: “So, metaphorically speaking, but going to Egypt, I metaphorically ate with the metaphorical cannibals?” “Yes!”
My favorite is when Henrietta say “Bleargh”. I heard Liz Lemon say that on 30 Rock the other night and I couldn’t help but think of one of my favorite Pink Carnation ladies 🙂
Pretty much anything that comes out of Turnip’s mouth makes me laugh out loud. He has always been my favorite character. So glad you wrote one for him!
A couple are:
“You do know, she doesn’t have a dowry.”
“That’s okay. I have one,”
And, with Geoff & Turnip:
“Two things, the pointy end is for axing and a saw is for sawing.”
“Har blooday har.”
I may not have the exact quote, but it’s close.
On the third day … the author gave to me.
3 fresh quotes,
2 selfsame FAQs,
And a hero in her story.
😉
“Oh, no,” said Mr. Fitzhugh blithely, immune to nuance. “We’re here to see the ruins.”
Lady Vaughn looked innocently up at her husband. “Isn’t that what you said, Vaughn?”
“Turnip made a low, growling noise. He hadn’t known he had it in him to growl. He also hadn’t known he had homicidal tendencies. Funny, the things one found out about oneself.”
I also like- ” ‘Good Gad! It looks like the last act of Hamlet in here.’
Turnip banged his head against his clenched fists, making inarticulate moaning noises.
Pinchingdale gave him an odd look. ‘I had no idea you felt so strongly about the play, Fitzhugh.’
‘Too much thinking, not enough action,’ Arabella provided for him.
‘And lots of bally interruptions from extraneous characters,’ muttered Turnip. ‘Who needed Horatio?'”- because its a hilarious reminder that I should probably be studying for my Shakespeare fianl instead of rereading my favorite spy romances 🙂 meh, I’m not worried, besides this totally counts as studying, right?
Well most of my favorite lines come from Lord Vaughn especially in Crimson Rose. But I loved how Mary Alsworthy, when Amy mentioned she was bound for the country and she snidely said:
-She’s increasing! How dull… (hee hee) I love that line and have used it on my fellow PC addicts.
“Richard fell asleep while mentally drafting an instructional pamphlet for the War Office Entitled ‘Some Thoughts on the Necessity of the Avoidance of the Opposite Sex While Engaged in Espionage: A Practical Guide.’ The title itself took him some effort to get just right. By the time he finished composing Item One (‘Under no circumstances allow yourself to be drawn into conversation, no matter how well read the young lady in question, or how fine her eyes’), Richard slid seamlessly into a familiar nightmare.
and
“Not that I have anything against that splendid segment of the species with their highly developed fashion sense, but my- um, I mean THE Pink Carnation was all man. He was Zorro, Lancelot, and Robin Hood all rolled into one. And, yes, I know Robin Hood wore tights, but they were manly tights.”
I must put in a word (as someone else already has) for Letty’s “Captain Pinchingdale’s sideburns offend me.” Sideburns are, indeed, frequently offensive.
And of course Vaughan’s “There was a time when I had very bad taste.” A bucket of cold water thrown on precisely the right individual.
“Ohmigod, he breathes, and you breathe, it must be love!”
You have no idea how many of my friends have been delt that one!
“Has anyone ever told you that you haggle divinely? That the simple beauty of your self-interest is enough to bring a man to his knees?”
-Lord Vaughn (The Seduction of the Crimson Rose)
“Patience is only a virtue when there is something worth waiting for.” (The Masque of the Black Tulip)
I remember this one making me literally laugh out loud:
Amy, in response to Miles telling Richard that he would like to marry Hen: “That’s an excellent idea! That way, no one is compromised, no one shoots anyone at dawn, and everyone is happy.”
As selwick swings from the chandelier and lays to fight off his ex-girlfriend,
“I always wanted to that.”
“It was positivly embarrassing to be thwarted in love by one’s own bleeding self. What sort of idiot got in the way of his own courtship?”
My favorite line from Mistletoe was….”The Middle Ages were called the Dark Ages because they had no windows. In the Renaissance, they discovered glass and everything became light.”
I love that line and wish my college history professor was still around to share it with.
“It wasn’t so much that that he was close-lipped as that he was so open-lipped that no french spy had ever been able to wade through all the verbiage to get to the essential bits.”- This in reference to Turnip.
I adored this moment:
“In the confused moment of falling, she saw Turnip’s arm draw back, and something round and pale fly with astonishing speed across the room, straight at Catherine.”
Of course it was the pudding. 🙂
“Some things worked far better in imagination than reality. In imagination she was intrepid and resourceful; in reality, she wished she were home, wrapped in a quilt.”
from Mistletoe, says Turnip of Lord Vaughn, “If I had a penny for every time the chap has greeted me with, Oh, it’s you again…”
I’m sure there are more in other books, but that is the most recent.
My favorites are Henrietta and Miles so I love it when they finally get together at the end:
Downstairs, in the servant’s hall, the word passed around that the master had been seen carrying his wife up the stairs – again.
My absolute all time favorite is in Deception of the Emerald Ring in the Prologue when Eloise says:
“It is a truth universally acknowledged that time moves differently for men.”
From Mistletoe, I would have to say this description of the Dowager Duchess:
“Even Sally wouldn’t want to cross fans with the Dowager Duchess of Dovedale. The woman had a tongue of steel and drank the blood of young virgins for breakfast. Well, the blood drinking had never been proved. But she could be jolly nasty when she chose, and she usually did choose.”
mine is from the end of decetption of the emerald ring with eloise, pammy & colin. ah? absence makes the heart go wander. his or yours? both.
Now my quote comes with a bit of a back story. First, you should assume that everything you have ever herd about the dirtiness of band kid’s minds is true.
On one particularly long bus ride to the state marching band competition I was reading Black Tulip. My friend, who had already read the books, interupted me to see where I was and to gossip about the characters. My boyfriend of the time decided to take advantage of my distraction to read over the page I was on.
“‘…finding his breeches as uncomfortably tight now as they had been then. It wasn’t the tailoring.’? Sennin, What are you reading? Kaite you are ruining my girlfriend!”
To which Katie responded “Well someone had to.” I felt I needed to step in at this point before before her remark could be blown out of porpotion by the band. I jumped in and argued that it was far from the worst that I had ever read, abd if anything I was the one that ruined Katie with Outlander. This of course earned me quite the reputation as a reader of scandalous novles and “tight pants” became quite the euphemism in band. “His pants were getting uncomfortably tight, if you know what I mean.” 😀
I think my fav would have to be anything Turnip says in the scene at the end of Black Tulip when the Marquise de Montval had mistaken him for the Pink Carnation.
“I say” – Turnip tapped the marquise on the arm – “don’t know what the custom is in France, but not at all the done thing to point firearms at guests.”
Awww, he’s so adorably clueless!
“‘Be careful’ was no substitute for ‘I love you.’
There were so many trecherous verbal trilogies.
I’m sensing a pattern! =D
From the deception of the emerald ring:
He was, Geoff realized with painful clarity, in the anomalous situation of despising himself for betraying his former love by lusting after his wife. He had become an exercise in illogic.
Not a direct quote, but I LOVE how Turnip continually corrects people when they don’t know who or what Arabella’s name is, as they “obviously” should know…especially since he didn’t know in the beginning either. He is my favorite Pink character!
Eloise: “So you’re descended from Miles!”
Colin: “And monkeys, too, if you go back far enough.”
I love the contrast between Eloise’s sweet, excited affability and Colin’s dry wit.