“Despite the expense and difficulty of the journey, despite the pain of parting from friends and family and homeland forever, the immigrants poured in, in hundreds and in thousands, carrying their children—those who survived the voyage—and their possessions in small, ragged bundles; fleeing poverty and hopelessness, seeking not fortune but only a small foothold on life. Only a chance.”

Claire thinks this as she considers all of the immigrants who have come to the colonies from Europe. While she does not relate to these people, having left Scotland and landed in the colonies involuntarily and at a greater disadvantage than she started, she knows their history and how important immigrants are to founding and carrying the country. Roger echoes similar sentiments as he travels from Scotland to the colonies later in the novel.

“‘What kind of law is it that condemns a man—’ ‘A slave—’ ‘A man! Condemns him without a trial, without even an investigation? What sort of law is that?’ ‘A bad one, madame!’ he snapped. ‘But it is still the law, and I am charged with its fulfillment.’”

This exchange between Claire and Campbell occurs when she discovers the law of bloodshed and how it will be applied to one of the enslaved men on the plantation. Campbell’s interjection that an enslaved person is not a man, and Claire’s rebuttal to this, highlight the key difference in beliefs about enslavement at the time. This speaks to The Complexities of Morality and Law, showing how these atrocities were justified by people who were afraid to speak out against them.

“I am already part of it. Part of what, though? Of clan and family, yes—but of this? […] Plainly Campbell and MacNeill saw this as Jamie’s affair—but did he? Jamie was not an isolated Highlander, I assured myself. He was well traveled, well educated, a cultured man. And he knew damn well what I thought of present matters. I had the terrible feeling, though, that my opinion would count for very little in the reckoning of this day.”

Claire thinks this as she takes in what Jamie says about helping Campbell to see that the law of bloodshed is executed, invoking The Complexities of Morality and Law. Jamie’s response surprises Claire, who knows he is against enslavement, but also knows he has a strong sense of duty. The final sentence of this quote also shows how little women were considered at the time, and how Claire feels as if she cannot make a difference in this situation.

“They were all mine; the unconscious body in my hands, its secrets open to me; the men who held it, their eyes on me. It didn’t always happen, but when it did, the sensation was unforgettable; a synthesis of minds into a single organism. And as I took control of this organism, I became part of it, and lost myself.”

Claire thinks this as she is operating on Myers in a room full of spectators. This is one of several moments in the novel where a character describes time standing still, and Claire’s control over the entire situation makes her feel both powerful and useful. This quote highlights Claire’s dedication to her practice of medicine and just how much she can lose herself in it.

“But he had been a laird once. He had told me very little of his time in prison, but one thing he had said rang in my memory. Of the men who shared his confinement, he said—They were mine. And the having of them kept me alive. And I remembered what Ian had said of Simon Fraser: ‘Care for his men is now his only link with humanity.’ Yes, Jamie needed men. Men to lead, to care for, to defend and to fight with. But not to own.”

Claire thinks this when Jamie is considering whether or not to accept Jocasta’s offer to become her heir, reflecting The Complexities of Morality and Law as inheriting Jocasta’s estate means becoming an enslaver. In part, Claire thinks this would be good for Jamie, who has always given his life to others and who misses his role as a laird in Scotland. Nevertheless, this matter is complicated by Jamie’s conscience and his belief that enslavement is an abomination that he cannot partake in.

“‘You’re the best man I’ve ever met,’ I said. ‘I only meant…it’s such a strain, to try to live for two people. To try to make them fit your ideas of what’s right…you do it for a child, of course, you have to, but even then, it’s dreadfully hard work. I couldn’t do it for you—it would be wrong even to try.’”

Claire tells this to Jamie as he continues to consider Jocasta’s offer, shortly after he mentions that Claire often acts as his conscience. Claire has also come to the painful realization that she will stay with Jamie regardless, so he must make a choice for himself, and she will act accordingly. Ironically, two chapters earlier, Claire had made the decision to kill the enslaved man who would have suffered a more painful death at the hands of the overseer, and she felt bad for making the choice for him.

“Jamie, horrified beforehand at the thought of savage Red Indians, had seen their rituals—so like his own—and known them at once for fellow hunters; civilized men. Even now, he was speaking to them quite naturally, explaining with broad gestures how the bear had come upon us and how he had killed it. They followed him with avid attention, exclaiming in appreciation in all the right places.”

This is how Claire describes Jamie when he first meets with the Tuscarora men after being attacked by the bear. Claire had previously tried to get Jamie to sympathize with the situation of the Indigenous tribes who, not unlike the Highlanders, had been forced out of their own land. However, it is only through first-hand experience that Jamie is able to see how these men are like him and just as human.

“‘You are my courage, as I am your conscience,’ he whispered. ‘You are my heart—and I your compassion. We are neither of us whole, alone. Do ye not know that, Sassenach?’”

Jamie tells this to Claire when they discuss staying in the colonies. Claire is terrified for Jamie to return to Scotland, having seen his grave there, yet here he confirms that they can never be parted. Though Jamie and Claire have similar characteristics, they also balance one another out and work through difficult situations best when they are together.

“‘How shall I tell ye what it is, to feel the need of a place?’ he said softly. […] If I am to live as a man, I must have a mountain,’ he said simply. His eyes were open wide, searching mine for understanding.”

Jamie tells this to Claire when they reach the spot that will become Fraser’s Ridge, and Jamie is reminded of home. There are many comparisons between the mountains in the Carolinas and those in the Highlands throughout the novel, and Claire realizes that other characters like Jocasta have also chosen to settle in places that remind them of home. Though Jamie is far from home, the mountains remind him of who he is and how he lived before coming to the colonies, turning the mountains into a key symbol.

“How do you mourn a time-traveler? she’d asked him. If he showed her the notice, she could mourn truly; she would know. The knowledge would wound her terribly, but she would heal, and could put the past behind her. If. If it wasn’t for the stones on Craigh na Dun. The stone circle and its dreadful promise of possibility.”

Roger thinks this when he discovers Claire and Jamie’s death notice. He recalls a question Bree had asked him, and wonders whether telling her about this will give her peace, even though her parents’ death would have occurred 200 years ago, regardless. However, knowing Bree, Roger also knows that the idea of time-travel would tempt her and, unlike his attempts to preserve history, she would try to change it due to The Power of Family Bonds.

“And would I conjure her in the flesh, if I could do it? No. That I would not; I would a thousand times rather think of her in the safety and comfort of her own time than wish her here amid the harshness and dangers of this one. But it didn’t mean that I didn’t miss her. For the first time, I felt some small sympathy for Jocasta Cameron and her desire for an heir; someone to remain behind, to take her place; testimony that her life had not been lived in vain.”

Claire thinks this about Brianna, and several similar quotes repeat this sentiment throughout the novel as Claire wrestles with The Power of Family Bonds. In the previous novel, Claire debated whether or not she could leave Bree in the present, an idea that still haunts her even though Bree encouraged her to return to the past. Her comparison of her predicament with Jocasta’s emphasizes the novel’s focus on family and history as well.

“Jamie stood quite still, feeling his heart beat, watching. It was one of those strange moments that came to him rarely, but never left. A moment that stamped itself on heart and brain, instantly recallable in every detail, for all of his life […] the still moments, as he called them to himself—they came with no warning, to print a random image of the most common things inside his brain, indelible. They were like the photographs that Claire had brought him, save that the moments carried with them more than vision.”

Jamie thinks this when he goes fishing with his son, William. This is one of several moments where characters describe time standing still, which often occur when characters are at peace or in critical moments. Jamie’s snapshot of Willie here shows how much he cares about his son, even though he knows William’s life is better without him in it.

“He had seen this before, and the ghosts of war and murder dragged at his footsteps as he passed. He had seen a young woman in the Highlands, sitting on the doorstep of her smoking house with her husband’s body at her feet; she had worn the same stunned look as the young Indian woman by the sycamore tree.”

Jamie thinks this when he enters the Tuscarora village and sees the destruction that disease has caused. His comparison of a Tuscarora woman to a Highland woman shows a great shift from his earlier beliefs around The Complexities of Morality and Law, when he wouldn’t acknowledge the similarities between the two groups of people. This quote also serves to remind the reader what Jamie has experienced and witnessed in Scotland, and shows his strength of character in the face of catastrophe.

“Brianna had never thought of herself as Scottish—had not known she was Scottish until quite recently—yet she had scarcely felt more bereft by her mother’s leaving or her father’s death than by this parting from people and places she had known for so short a time. Perhaps it was only the contagious emotion of the other passengers. Many of them were standing at the rail as she was, several weeping openly. Or fear of the long journey ahead. But she knew quite well it was none of those things.”

Bree thinks this as she sails away from Scotland on a ship bound for the colonies. Though she is technically returning to the country where she was born, she feels a connection to Scotland that she hadn’t had before returning to the past and seeing her roots there. The fact that Bree knows it is not merely fear or contagious emotion that is making her bereft shows how she has come to recognize how important this place is to her and The Power of Family Bonds.

“He hadn’t hesitated; he’d known from the first moment of realization that he must follow her. Sometimes, though, he was not sure whether he had come to save her or to savage her—anything, so long as it was settled once and for all between them.”

Roger thinks this as he makes his way to the past to meet Brianna. Though he is confused about her feelings for him and what he wants to do with her, he is certain about his love for Bree, which is what drives him forward. Roger’s certainty and simultaneous uncertainty characterize his feelings throughout much of the rest of the novel as he wrestles with The Nature of Love and Obligation.

“What a mystery blood was—how did a tiny gesture, a tone of voice, endure through generations like the harder verities of flesh? […] Perhaps that was why parents watched their weans in such enchantment, he thought; finding out all the tiny links between them, that bound the chains of life, one generation to the next.”

Jamie thinks this as he watches Brianna and sees all the similarities they share, reflecting upon The Power of Family Bonds. Bree had a similar thought in an earlier chapter, where she wondered how her grandmother’s talent for painting was passed down to her. The bonds Jamie and Bree share are emphasized throughout the novel as the characters get to know one another, yet they show how they have been part of each other all along.

“‘Look, what I mean to say is—if I don’t say it, how do you know I love you?’ He stood still, looking at me, then nodded in acknowledgment. ‘I know because ye’re here, Sassenach,’ he said quietly.”

Claire tells this to Jamie when she realizes she rarely tells him she loves him. Jamie, however, knows that her love is shown through actions, not words. He goes on to compare her time travel to be with him to Roger’s to be with Bree, noting how taking that big a risk could only be done for true love, invoking The Nature of Love and Obligation.

“‘Because I know other things,’ I said at last, very softly, not looking at him. ‘I know what it is to bear a child. I know what it is to have your body and your mind and your soul taken from you and changed without your will. I know what it is to be ripped out of the place you thought was yours, to have choice taken from you. I know what it is, do you hear me? and it isn’t something anyone should do without being willing.’”

Claire tells this to Jamie when they are fighting about the fact that Claire would perform a pregnancy termination for Brianna if she asked her to. While Jamie believes this is wrong, Claire emphasizes here that she has insight that he doesn’t, since she has experienced being pregnant herself. Unlike Jamie, Claire understands from first-hand knowledge the pains and dangers of pregnancy, and how they can become even more painful if a pregnancy is unwanted.

“Please, he’d said. Please what? Please don’t ask her, please don’t do it if she asks? But I had to. I swear by Apollo the physician…not to cut for the stone, nor to procure abortion…Well, and Hippocrates was neither a surgeon, a woman…nor a mother. As I’d told Jamie, I’d sworn by something a lot older than Apollo the physician—and that oath was in blood.”

This quote continues Claire and Jamie’s fight about giving Brianna a say over her pregnancy. Jamie begs Claire not to do it, but Claire knows that the choice is not up to her. She knows that being a mother is more important than her role as a surgeon, so the oath she makes to Bree is far more important than the one she swore when becoming a physician.

“It had been true, what her mother said. She was removed, changed, altered without consent or knowledge, learning only after the fact. She threw aside the quilts and got up. She couldn’t lie in bed mourning what was lost; it was no longer anyone’s job to protect her. The job of protector was hers, now.”

Brianna thinks this as she is coming to terms with what being pregnant means to her. She begins to understand what Claire has told her about pregnancy, but also knows that she must prepare for her role as a mother. Rather than doing what she wants, she knows she must put her child first from now on, invoking The Power of Family Bonds.

“A whole life devoted to the needs of someone else. Ulysses could read and write both French and English; could reckon numbers, could sing and play the harpsichord. All that skill and learning—used only for the entertainment of an autocratic old lady. To say to one, ‘Come,’ and he cometh, to say to another ‘Go,’ and he goeth. Yes, that was Jocasta’s way. And if Jocasta had her way…she would own this man.”

Brianna thinks this when she asks Jocasta’s butler, Ulysses, about his life, and he tells her he was once a free man who had an extensive education. She feels terrible for the man and the potential he was forced to waste. Bree also must consider Jocasta’s proposal to make Bree her heir, something she denies even more vehemently than Jamie, as she sees how unjust it is from a more modern perspective. This passage speaks to The Complexities of Morality and Law the characters must confront.

“‘You’re going to die,’ she said to him, and she who had not come for pity’s sake was surprised to find she had some. ‘If it makes the dying easier for you, to know there’s something of you left on earth—then you’re welcome to the knowledge. But I’ve finished with you, now.’”

Bree tells this to Bonnet when visiting his cell, after revealing that she is pregnant with his child. Though Bree had chosen to forgive him for her own sake, listening to her father’s advice, her suggestion that knowing he has a child would make dying easier for him shows how her forgiveness also benefits him. Her dismissal in the final sentence shows how Bree has moved on from her hate for Bonnet, even if she cannot forget him.

“He hadn’t seen her in nearly a year—a year in which he’d gone through hell and back. He’d sat on the cliff above that bloody stone circle for three solid days without food or fire, thinking things over, trying to decide. And in the end he’d simply gotten up and begun walking, knowing that it was the only possible choice. Obligation? Love? How in hell could you have love without obligation?”

Roger thinks this before he tells Bree why he chose to come back to her. Though they have debated The Nature of Love and Obligation throughout the novel, here Roger points out that love comes with obligation. This is a conclusion that Bree also reaches shortly after, when she realizes she waited for Roger to return rather than returning to the future because of both love and obligation.