Quotes from Philippa Gregory

I like writing historical fiction.

I am in the interesting position of being sometimes skimmed by the critics and called literature and sometimes called historical fiction.

Yes, but either way, shamed or not, I shall be Queen of England, and this is the last time you will sit in my presence.

When a woman thinks her husband is a fool, her marriage is over. They may part in one year or ten; they may live together until death. But if she thinks he is a fool, she will not love him again.

If I could change one thing about myself I'd be less highly strung. I find my sensibility quite high maintenance.

If there is love enough,then nothing-not nature, not even death itself- can come between two who love each other.

Being a stepmother has worked out very well for me. I love my stepchildren very much.

I like to do the research of history and the creativity of writing fiction. I am creating this thing which I think is twice as difficult as writing either history or fiction.

I don't much like Singapore. It's very big, very modern and very urbanised. As a rule, I prefer older places where you get a sense of the history.

I love reading and I love thinking - the reason that I love my books so much is that in order to write them I have to read and to think for years at a time about the same period of time.

I have given my word that only death will take me from you.

But young hearts mend easily, and hearts that own half of England have something better to do than to beat faster for love.

But Anne, do you love him?" I asked curiously. The curve of her hood hid all but the corner of her smile. "I am a fool to own it, but I am in a fever for his touch.

It is not love that matters, Mistress Boy, it is what you choose to do with it. What'd you choose to do with yours?

When a man wants a mystery, it is generally better to leave him mystified. Nobody loves a clever woman.

And now I wnt love. Lust is no good for me. I want love. His love.

I shall be dark and French and fashionable and difficult. And you shall be sweet and open and English and fair. What a pair we shall be! What man can resist us?

Just because one man calls him Allah and another calls him God is no reason for believers to be enemies.

I would be very, very uncomfortable at teaching, at dreaming to teach, people things.

The moment that changed me for ever was when I had my first seminar with my history professor at the University of Sussex. I realised that history would answer all the questions I had spent my life asking. It was an extraordinary moment.

Some women attract desire. Others do not.

For instance, I have never believed that there is only one person for each person in the world. It doesn't make the least sense to me. However, in reality, I fell in love at 45 and I am absolutely certain that my now husband is the only man in the world for me, a truth I find both ridiculous and uplifting.

The house I grew up in was a tall Victorian town house in Bristol. There were very big rooms, which were under-furnished and always cold.

Fortune's wheel takes you very high and then throws you very low, and there is nothing you can do but face the turn of it with courage.