The King's Curse Quotes

“Thomas More once told me: lion or king, never show fear or you are a dead man.”
― Philippa Gregory, The King's Curse

“She’s like an anchor that he has forgotten, but still it keeps him steady.”
― Philippa Gregory, The King's Curse

“Life is a risk, who knows this better than me? Who knows more surely that babies die easily, that children fall ill from the least cause, that royal blood is fatally weak, that death walks behind my family like a faithful black hound?”
― Philippa Gregory, The King's Curse

“We are Plantagenets - we dine on a diet of betrayal and heartbreak.”
― Philippa Gregory, The King's Curse

“How would I know? I don’t hold with prophecies and predictions and long-lost kings. I don’t have giants in my family tree, like you Nevilles. I don’t have three suns in the sky like you Yorks. I am not descended from a water goddess who comes out of a river to mate with mortals! When your family was founded, no one had ever heard of us. When your uncles were on the throne, mine were quiet City men. I don’t know what you might have, what you might have kept from those times—a banner or a standard, a bead-roll or letter. Anything that shows your descent, anything that shows your royal blood, any prophecy that you once had the throne and will have it again. But whatever you have, your ladyship, clear it out and burn it. Nothing is worth the risk of keeping.”
― Philippa Gregory, The King's Curse

“Dželat mi prilazi i kaže: "Spustite glavu na panj i raširite ruke kad budete spremni, gospo."
Poslušno spuštam ruke na panj i nespretno kleknem na travu. Osećam njen miris pod kolenima. Osećam bol u leđima i čujem krik galebova i nečiji plač. A onda odjednom, baš kad se spremim da spustim čelo na hrapavu površinu panja i raširim ruke da dam znak krvniku da može da udari, odjednom me preplavljuje talas radosti i žudnje za životom, i kažem: "Ne."
Prekasno je, dželat je već zamahnuo sekirom iznad glave, vež je spušta, ali ja kažem: "Ne" i ustajem, pridržavajući se za panj da se osovim na noge.
Osetim strahovit udarac na potiljku, ali gotovo nikakav bol. Silina udarca obara me na zemlju i ja ponavljam "Ne", i odjednom me obuzima buntovnički zanos. Ne pristajem na volju ludaka Henrija Tjudora, ne spuštam krotko glavu na panj i nikada to neću uraditi. Boriću se za svoj život i vičem "Ne!", pokušavajući da ustanem i "Ne", kad osetim novi udarac, "Ne" dok pužem po travi, a krv mi lipti iz rane na vratu i glavi i zaslepljuje me, ali ne guši moju radost u borbi za život iako mi on izmiče, i svedočenju, do poslednje g časa, o zlu koje Henri Tjudor nanosi meni i mojima. "Ne!", vičem. "Ne! Ne! Ne”
― Philippa Gregory, The King's Curse

“It's not magic. It's what any slut does if she has her wits about her.”
― Philippa Gregory, The King's Curse

“A single man’s imperfect conscience can never be superior to centuries of tradition.”
― Philippa Gregory, The King's Curse

“He was such a happy boy, and happiness is not memorable.”
― Philippa Gregory, The King's Curse

“A ficção como sempre, ocupa um lugar secundário face à História; as mulheres reais são sempre mais complexas e mais contraditórias do que as heroínas de um romance, tal como as mulheres reais dos nossos tempos, como as de então, são muitas vezes maiores do que o retrato que delas se faz, por vezes maiores do que o mundo quer que sejam.”
― Philippa Gregory, The King's Curse

“She is frantic. But if she did not, he would see her as flawed. Ill. Incapable of bearing a child. She has to deny her loss, because he won't be married to a woman who is not perfect. She has buried a dead baby in secret and she has to look as if she is endlessly beautiful, clever, and fertile.”
― Philippa Gregory, The King's Curse

“But Elizabeth and I are accustomed to loss, we are Plantagenets—we dine on a diet of betrayal and heartbreak.”
― Philippa Gregory, The King's Curse

“The mown grass is growing again nearly to our knees; we will take a second crop of hay from this field, rich and green and starred with moon daisies, buttercups and the bright, blowsy heads of poppies.”
― Philippa Gregory, The King's Curse

“terrible roar,”
― Philippa Gregory, The King's Curse

“of the agreed facts: the official bedding; the young couple co-habiting at Ludlow; their youth and health; and the absence of any concern about the consummation of their marriage; convincingly indicates”
― Philippa Gregory, The King's Curse

“If everyone in Christendom ate nothing but fish on Friday, then the fishermen and their children would eat well the rest of the week.”
― Philippa Gregory, The King's Curse

“scowling with worry. “Come at once, he’s”
― Philippa Gregory, The King's Curse

“pilgrims and swore an oath? Who rang the”
― Philippa Gregory, The King's Curse

“A title like ‘the Lady,’ for those who are too mealymouthed to call a whore a whore.”
― Philippa Gregory, The King's Curse