Quotes from Philippa Gregory

All the people speak of a hero like a ghost or a sleeping saint, or a pretender. It would almost make you believe that there is an heir of York hidden out in the hills, a king waiting for the call to battle, sleeping like the true Arthur of England, ready to rise. People love to dream, so how should anyone contradict them?

pillion saddle on Archibald's horse and a man-at-arms lifts

quando se reconhece que o amado é tudo menos perfeito, tal constitui um verdadeiro teste ao amor.

never a pot hole filled

This is how women are treated: when they act on their own account they are named as sinners, when they enjoy success they are named as whores.

I am glad that I did not choose a martyr's death like Jane, and I am glad that I did not break my heart like Katherine. I am glad that I loved Thomas and that I know that I love him still. I am glad that Elizabeth did not destroy me, and that I defied her and never regretted it, and that my little life, as a little person, has been a life of greatness to me.

rode in a state of wonder that a country could be so lush and so green; but even among this fertile wealth there was hunger. I saw it in the faces of some of the villagers, and in the fresh mounds of the graveyards. The carter was right, the balance that had been England at peace for a brief generation had been overthrown under the last king, and the new one continued the work of setting the country into turmoil. The great religious houses

And we hardly ever speak of her. It is as if we cannot bring ourselves to speak of her as dead, and we cannot lie to ourselves that she is still alive.

Any ninny with an honest heart, a scheming family, and an open purse can do that.

we will put the Howards so high they can never fall.

If women could only have more," I said longingly. "If we could have more in our own right. Being a woman at court is like forever watching a pastrycook at work in the kitchen. All those good things, and you can have nothing.

For who could resist a woman who could fall from being queen to commoner and yet still carry herself as if greatness was within?

I am too young to understand that a man and a woman can love each other so deeply that their hearts beat as if they were one heart, and yet, know that they are utterly and hopelessly different.

A lady will find her defenders. The men around you will speak for you if needs be,' Brother Peter assured her, not realising that he was recommending a view of women which had kept them powerless for centuries, and would lead them to be victims of male anger and male power forever.

counsels. "And never tell anyone that you spoke to me. And be sure that I will never confess it." "Dear

But you remember this—great wealth or position is not a right, and you don't deserve it however hard you work. It is chance, and the labor of others, that brings a man wealth. Don't forget that others have earned your fortune for you. Never imagine you deserve it.

D'you think I can't write this and get someone-a drunk married to a fool -to swear to it? Do you think I can't sey up as historian? As storyteller? D'you think I can't write a history which years from now everyone will believe as the truth? I am the king. Who shall write the record of my reign if not me? 'You can say anything you like' I say levelly. 'Of course you can. You're King of England. But it doesn't make it true.

There will be a child, but no child. There will be a king but no king. There will be a virgin queen all-forgotten. There will be a queen but no virgin. [And Lord Robert Dudley? he whispered.] He will have the making of a prince who will change the history of the world, I whispered in reply. And he will die, beloved by a queen, safe in his bed.

That she is a witch and has enchanted the king by sorcery. That she is a murderess and would poison the queen if she could. That she has made him impotent with all other women so he has to marry her. That she blasted the children in the queen's womb and put barrenness on the throne of England." George

For a moment I did not even see the king, I saw only the two of us, bound to be each other's grief

Where will you go?" "To the safest place in London," he says with a rueful smile. "A place that loved your husband and will never forgive Duke Richard for betraying him. The only honest business in London." "Where d'you mean?" "The whorehouse," he says with a grin.

She knows, and I know, that she rode in the Tudor barge past my window when I was in sanctuary, and she enjoyed her moment of triumph then. And she knows, and I know, that I have the upper hand now. We don't forget that. We aren't men to clap each other on the back and say 'No hard feelings' after a battle. But we know also that the world has changed and we have to change too.

of the palace to inform me that Lady Margaret

Even in that short time he had seen that Anne had great power. She did not care if she quarreled with her uncle, or with any of the men at court that could have been her allies. She did not care who hated her, as long as the king was at her beck and call. And she could ruin any man she chose.