Daughters of Rome Quotes

“Making history was so much better than writing it.”
― Kate Quinn, Daughters of Rome

“From coronation to funeral, an emperor’s life was a circus. But even an emperor had to die alone.”
― Kate Quinn, Daughters of Rome

“I am entering on the history of a period rich in disasters, frightful in its wars, torn by civil strife, and even in peace full of horrors. Four emperors perished by the sword.” —TACITUS”
― Kate Quinn, Daughters of Rome

“flamingo necks, peacock brains, pike livers, lark tongues, sow’s udders, elephant trunks and ears extravagantly frilled with parsley.”
― Kate Quinn, Daughters of Rome

“It will give you something nice to remember when everything goes to Hades. Will it go to Hades? Cornelia had asked. Oh, my honey. It always does. Well, Lollia knew these things. She’d had lovers before, after all. She’d know how to say good-bye with flair, how to end things with humor and dignity and compassion”
― Kate Quinn, Daughters of Rome

“But now here she was, Lady Cornelia Secunda known as Marcella, looking down at all Rome with three emperors lying dead at her feet. No one else knew they were there—not the husband who despised her, not the sister who made pained expressions about her writing, not the idiot cousins who cared only for lovers and horses. None of them knew. But I know. Marcella laughed aloud, imagining the look on Tullia’s face if she knew her hated sister-in-law had brought down three emperors.”
― Kate Quinn, Daughters of Rome

“The Cornelia in limbo,” Marcella said aloud. Not a privileged wife like Lollia, not a pampered daughter like Diana, not even a weeping widow like Cornelia—just an unwanted wife living on her brother’s charity. Of course, things would be different if she were as beautiful as Diana, or as rich as Lollia, or as grief-stricken as Cornelia—money and beauty and unhappiness bought exceptions to anything.”
― Kate Quinn, Daughters of Rome

“Can’t we all just get along?” Gaius stood wringing his hands.”
― Kate Quinn, Daughters of Rome

“A Roman matron should always do her own weaving,” Marcella had often heard her sister say. “It’s a sign of industry and virtue in women. Even the goddesses in the heavens sit at their looms.” “Even the goddesses of heaven need a way to look busy while they scheme,” Marcella agreed.”
― Kate Quinn, Daughters of Rome

“And it had all felt so grubby somehow, sneaking out of the house to meet a man at some tawdry inn. Bored wives who dallied with lovers whenever their husbands left town—was there anything more commonplace? Far better to dedicate yourself to books and writing, Marcella had decided, than to turn into a stale joke. Only now, books and writing were beginning to feel rather flat, too.”
― Kate Quinn, Daughters of Rome

“Cornelia might weep and grieve, but someone else had to make an alliance that would keep the family safe. I’ve got slave blood as well as patrician, and patricians may not bend but slaves endure.”
― Kate Quinn, Daughters of Rome

“Because even though a patrician was supposed to die proudly, there wasn’t much pride in being an emperor’s heir for five days and then being butchered on a staircase like a stray dog.”
― Kate Quinn, Daughters of Rome

“Fortuna favors the worthy. Not the fools.”
― Kate Quinn, Daughters of Rome

“History would always march on regardless of what man wore the purple, and historians would always be there to watch.”
― Kate Quinn, Daughters of Rome

“Goodness," Marcella said at last. "I know you'd do anything to avoid Tullia's dinner party, but suicide seems a little extreme.”
― Kate Quinn, Daughters of Rome