Quotes from Elizabeth Chadwick

Being a king was not about pleasing people. It was about controlling them.

Grief was just the moment before you tied off the thread and began the next one. That was when you made your choice about what you were going to sew next.

Perhaps the most important lesson I have learned is to embrace the small pleasures and turn them into lasting memories.

That you should choose your battles wisely. You cannot fight everything and win. Sometimes the price of losing is beyond what you can afford to pay, but that applies to winning as well.

When the need is so great, no matter how much love you pour into a bowl, it will never be full. Or sometimes it is damaged, and the love all runs out through the hole in the bottom.

The darkest prisons were those of the mind.

Because to outwit your rivals, first you had to know their ways and how to play their games.

What did it matter if no one cared, as long as she did herself? Relying on others was a dangerous way to live, and frequently a waste of time

All that remains is regret for what might have been. It is like standing in the ashes of a fire you once approached to warm your body a little, but which burned you to the bone instead.

Indeed, she had started to wonder if her blessings might be in her daughters and their progeny rather than in her sons. There was greatness in the female side of her line, and if she could nurture it and enhance its luster, then she would.

She never knew from one moment to the next how he was going to behave toward her and therefore she constantly had to adjust her balance. It was exhausting.

That springtime does not last forever and that the fine seasons should have their harvest gathered and stored against harsher times. That you should choose your battles wisely. You cannot fight everything and win. Sometimes the price of losing is beyond what you can afford to pay, but that applies to winning as well." She narrowed her focus on the girls. "Be very careful and think before you act. Make friends with those who you know will stay true to you and reward them fittingly.

together they watched the fireflies twinkle in and out like hopes in the darkness.

What kind of a promise ? One that only a fool asks of a madman

there is love at first sight - so the troubadours say - and there is the love that you take on piece by piece - like armouring yourself . . .' A thoughtful look crossed his face. 'Or perhaps like removing your armour. How many people would you allow within the space between your heart and your shield

Petronella's expression was hard with defiance. "I love him." Her voice was fierce. "You don't know anything about love." "Oh, but I do," Alienor replied bitterly. "Because I love you, and you have just broken my heart.