Quotes from Philippa Gregory

Because all books are forbidden when a country turns to terror. The scaffolds on the corners, the list of things you may not read. These things always go together.

When it's done, it's done. And no one will know until it's done.

When they launch snakes you'll have your namesake.

You can smile when your heart is breaking because you are a woman, and a courtier, and a Howard. That's three reasons for being the most deceitful creature on God's earth.

The law is what powerful men say it shall be.

War does not answer war, war does not finish war. The only ending is peace.

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.

Sometimes we win; sometimes we lose. The main thing is that we always, we always go on.

To save my son, I would plot with the devil himself.

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.

Only fools wait when their enemies are coming, to see if they may prove to be friends.

I am not a yard of ribbon. I am not a leg of ham. I am not for sale to anyone.

Stars in the night,' he said. 'Something something something something, some delight

I will learn to smile at my enemies.

We have to be more royal than royalty itself or nobody will believe us.

True obedience can only happen when you secretly think you know better, and you choose to bow your head. Anything short of that is just agreement, and any ninny-in-waiting can agree.

He had taken George, my beloved George, from me. And he had taken my other self: Anne.

She was like a mother to me...and I betrayed as a daughter will betray her mother and yet, never stop loving her.

Loyaute me lie - Loyalty Binds Me

I am, at this moment, what I have always been to him: an object of beauty. He has never loved me as a woman.

I would play ball with Catherine, and hide and seek: Not a very challenging game in an open meadow, but she was still at the age where she believed that if she shut her eyes and buried her head under a shawl then she could not be seen.

I was taught to be queen by Margaret of Anjou, and perhaps I have taught you how to be queen in turn. This is fortune's wheel indeed. With my forefinger I draw a circle in the air, the sign of fortune's wheel. You can go very high and you can sink very low, but you can rarely turn the wheel at your own bidding.

To stop us reading forbidden books they will have to burn every manuscript. But to stop us thinking forbidden thoughts they will have to cut off our heads.

As men have to fight, women have to wait and plan. This is your time for waiting and planning, and you must be constant and discreet. Honesty matters so much less.