Quotes from Philippa Gregory

His is a rule of terror. He makes us afraid of imaginary enemies so we don't guard ourselves against him and against our government. We are so busy watching for foreigners that we forget to watch our friends.

That's the thing about wealth and power. Once you've learned to want it—that's all you learn. You don't learn satisfaction, you just want more. There's never enough. You'll never be rich enough, Johnnie, and you'll die in dissatisfaction.

think of his cupping my mother's cheek in his hand and telling her that she is the cleverest woman in England and he will be guided by none but her; and then going his own way.

Wampum is a sacred thing, Nippe Sannup. Wampum is a holy thing. You should give it as a gift, to one you love to show them that you value them. It's not a coin. We should never have let your people use it for coin. It is not for sale. It shows love and respect. Respect is not for sale.

I must say tonight my greatest hope is to die in my bed, at peace with the world, as an old man.

Really, if it were not for Joan of Arc, I would think that girls are completely useless

All this is always for nothing," he says. "Don't you understand that yet? Every death is a pointless death; every battle should have been avoided.

Her body in firelight and candlelight was as beautiful as a wild animal.

Men command the world that they know," she says. "Everything that men know, they make their own. Everything that they learn, they claim for themselves. They are like the alchemists who look for the laws that govern the world, and then want to own them and keep them secret. Everything they discover, they hug to themselves; they shape knowledge into their own selfish image. What is left to us women but the realms of the unknown?

I would never lie to anyone about history.

I put the charm bracelet away in the purse and return it to my jewel case. I don't need a spell to foresee the future; I am going to make it happen.