"To someone standing in the nave, looking down the length of the church toward the east, the round window would seem like a huge sun exploding into innumerable shards of gorgeous color."
— Ken Follett (The Pillars of the Earth)

"... you should first follow the plow if you want to dance the harvest jig."
— Ken Follett (World Without End)

"He knew that would not do, of course. Having faith in God did not mean sitting back and doing nothing. It meant believing that you would find success if you did your best honestly and energetically (417)"
— Ken Follett (The Pillars of the Earth)

"He had been granted his life's wish-but conditionally."
— Ken Follett (The Pillars of the Earth)

"Men just like the ones who killed his mother and father had now murdered an archbishop in a cathedral, as if to prove, beyond all possibility of doubt, that there was no authority that could prevail against the tyranny of a man with a sword (958)."
— Ken Follett (The Pillars of the Earth)

"His aim was the glory of God, but the glory of Philip pleased him too."
— Ken Follett (The Pillars of the Earth)

"He stayed where he was, watching the door, but she did not reemerge. It was an odd thing to do, to stand in a street in the hope of seeing someone who hardly knew him; but he did not want to move. He was seething inside with new emotion. Nothing seemed very important except the Princess. He was single-minded about her. He was enchanted. He was possessed. He was in love (437)."
— Ken Follett (The Pillars of the Earth)

"They turned toward Kingsbridge. It was twenty miles away. Philip began to walk. He felt wonderful. The return of Remigius more than compensated for the quarry. I lost in court, he thought, but that was only about stones. What I gained was something infinitely more valuable. Today I won a man's soul (880)."
— Ken Follett (The Pillars of the Earth)

"The death of Thomas had shown that, in a conflict between the Church and the Crown, the monarch could always prevail by the use of brute force. But the cult of Saint Thomas proved that such a victory would always be a hollow one. The power of a king was not absolute, after all: it could be restrained by the will of the people (972)."
— Ken Follett (The Pillars of the Earth)

"The death of Thomas had shown that, in a conflict between the Church and the Crown, the monarch could always prevail by the use of brute force. But the cult of Saint Thomas proved that such a victory would always be a hollow one. The power of a king was not absolute, after all: it could be restrained by the will of the people (972)."
— Ken Follett