Philippa Gregory Quotes

“But I don't forget and I don't forgive.”

“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.”

“It is no small thing, this, for a woman: freedom.”

“The world hasn't changed that much; men still rule.”

“He may well speak French and Latin and half a dozen languages, but since he has nothing to say – what good are they?”

“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.”

“I can't sleep, I can't eat, I can't do anything but think about him. At night I dream of him, all day I wait to see him, and when I do see him my heart turns over and I think I will faint with desire.”

“I am too dark in my heart tonight.”

“If it means something, take it to heart. If it means nothing, it's nothing. Let it go.”

“The truth is the last thing that matters,' she said. 'And you can believe one thing of the truth and me: I keep it well hidden, inside my heart.”

“I would know you anywhere for my true love. Whoever I was and whoever you were, I would know you at once for my true love.”

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

“Before anything else I was a woman who was capable of passion and who had a great need and a great desire for love.”

“A man will always promise to do more than he can do to a woman he cannot understand.”

“I believe in me, in my view of the world. I believe in my responsibility for my own destiny, guilt for my own sins, merit for my own good deeds, determination of my own life. I don't believe in miracles, I believe in hard work.”

“Words have weight, something once said cannot be unsaid. Meaning is like a stone dropped into a pool; the ripples will spread and you cannot know what back they wash against.”

“Jane," I said quietly.
She opened her eyes, she had been far away in prayer.
"Yes, Mary? Forgive me, I was praying."
"If you go on flirting with the king with those sickly little smiles, one of us Boleyns is going to scratch your eyes out.”

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

“Edward lives as if there is no tomorrow, Richard as if he wants no tomorrow, and George as though someone should give it to him for free.”

“You have to choose the best, every day, without compromise… guided by your own virtue and highest ambition”

“I never thought it would end like this. I never thought he would leave me without saying goodbye.”

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

“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?”

“He is my brother. She is my sister. Come what will, they are my kin.”

“Anyone can attract a man. The trick is to keep him.”

“Tell my daughter Elizabeth -- no! Tell all my daughters, everywhere, in all the ages yet to come. Tell them how I died, and why. And tell them to remember this: the future is unwritten. Know your rights.”

“I was born to be your rival,' she [Anne] said simply. 'And you mine. We're sisters, aren't we?”

“I have seen sights and travelled in countries you cannot imagine. I have been afraid and I have been in danger, and I have never for one moment thought that I would throw myself at at a man for his help.”

“I have learned the power of surviving.”

“The wheel of fortune […] tells us that we all only want victory. We all want to triumph. But we all have to learn to endure what comes. We have to learn to treat misfortune and great fortune with indifference. That is wisdom.”

“You have to have faith that you are doing God's will. Sometimes you will not understand. Sometimes you will doubt. But if you are doing God's will, you can't be wrong, you can't go wrong.”

“Wealth means nothing at all if you do not know, to the last penny, what your fortune is. You might as well be poor if you do not know what you have.”

“The sons of York will destroy each other, one brother destroying another, uncles devouring nephews, fathers beheading sons. They are a house which has to have blood, and they will shed their own if they have no other enemy.”

“Every woman has to have something which singles her out, which catches the eyes, which makes her the center of attention. I am going to be french.”

“Oh yes. Draw your hem back from my mud, little sister.”

“We're going' Anne said firmly.
So soon?' Percy pleaded. 'But stars come out at night.'
Then they fade at dawn', Anne replied. 'This star needs to veil herself in darkness.”

“En Ma Fin Est Ma Commencement - In my end is my beginning.”

“Some women attract desire. Others do not.”

“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.”

“All that that I learn just teaches me that I know nothing.”

“If it has to be done at all, it must be done with grace.”

“Men die in battle; women die in childbirth.”