The Queen's Fortune Quotes

“Mediocrity is never a desirable destination....At least, not when practice might transform mediocrity to competence, or even skill.' ~ Napoleon Bonapart”
― Allison Pataki, The Queen's Fortune

“A lady need never apologize. ~ Joseph de Bonaparte (Brother of Napoleon)”
― Allison Pataki, The Queen's Fortune

“The sea is forever, it existed long before I did. It shall outlast me. In a world where absolutely nothing is certain, at least that much is true.”
― Allison Pataki, The Queen's Fortune: A Novel of Desiree, Napoleon, and the Dynasty That Outlasted the Empire

“Fortune favors the bold. One doesn't win glory by hiding behind the lines.”
― Allison Pataki, The Queen's Fortune: A Novel of Desiree, Napoleon, and the Dynasty That Outlasted the Empire

“Frivolity is destructive, and complacency is corrosive”
― Allison Pataki, The Queen's Fortune

“It (is) a precious gift, and rare, to hear birds warbling all year long. ~Desiree Clary Bernadottev(Queen Desideria)”
― Allison Pataki, The Queen's Fortune

“I learned this lesson too late; what a shame, how late in life we realize that we simply ought not to have cared! That all along, it turns out, we have been free, endowed with the power to tell our own tales. To fulfill our own fortunes.”
― Allison Pataki, The Queen's Fortune

“A crown is both a great gift and an onerous burden.”
― Allison Pataki, The Queen's Fortune

“Ambition is never content, even at the summit of greatness.”
― Allison Pataki, The Queen's Fortune

“Winning is all for nothing if one does not take advantage of success.”
― Allison Pataki, The Queen's Fortune

“Love is in no way essential to a successful marriage”
― Allison Pataki, The Queen's Fortune

“Though so much of history has been written by and for men, I feel most passionately that women carry much of the heart and soul of so many of these great historical moments, and that their lives provide some of the most captivating and inspiring material for storytelling.”
― Allison Pataki, The Queen's Fortune: A Novel of Desiree, Napoleon, and the Dynasty That Outlasted the Empire

“learned this lesson too late; what a shame, how late in life we realize that we simply ought not to have cared! That all along, it turns out, we have been free, endowed with the power to tell our own tales. To fulfill our own fortunes.”
― Allison Pataki, The Queen's Fortune: A Novel of Desiree, Napoleon, and the Dynasty That Outlasted the Empire

“Everything is just as it was before—we have a king and we are once more a nation of superstitions and subjugation. The only thing that is different is that we have two million fewer Frenchmen, all of whom died for what they believed was liberty.”
― Allison Pataki, The Queen's Fortune: A Novel of Desiree, Napoleon, and the Dynasty That Outlasted the Empire

“France had been a fickle companion to both my husband and me, hadn't she? France was a changeling--constantly shifting on us, swerving just when we felt as though perhaps we might finally have a sure footing underneath.”
― Allison Pataki, The Queen's Fortune: A Novel of Desiree, Napoleon, and the Dynasty That Outlasted the Empire