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eb986c0
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I would carry myself with much more dignity than her. I wouldn't whisper with the king and demean myself as she did. I wouldn't send out dishes and wave to people like she did. I wouldn't trail all my brothers and sisters into court like she did. I would be much more reserved and cold. I wouldn't smile at anyone, I wouldn't bow to anyone. I would be a true queen, a queen of ice, without family or friends.
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Philippa Gregory |
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f824eb4
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when i first saw him i thought he was as beautiful as a knight from the romances, like a troubadour, like a poet. I thought i could be like a lady in a tower and he could sing beneath my window and persuade me to love him. But although he has the looks of a poet he doesn't have the wit. I can never get more than two words out of him, and i begin to feel that i demean myself in trying to please him.
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philippa gregory |
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3b022f5
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If this is the will of God, it takes a strange and terrible shape. I did not know that the God of Battles was vile like this. I never knew that a saint could summon torment like this.
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war
joan-of-arc
will-of-god
destruction
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Philippa Gregory |
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270fd5a
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How can I bless you when you are cursed in your choice?
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Philippa Gregory |
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46d3ae8
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I will go to war should there ever be a cause I think worth dying for--and not before.
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Philippa Gregory |
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32f30ae
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In the darkness of the forest he saw her, and whispered her name, Melusina, and at that summoning she rose out of the water and he saw that she was a woman of cool and complete beauty to the waist, and below that she was scaled, like a fish. She promised him that she would come to him and be his wife, she promised him that she would make him as happy as a mortal woman can, she promised him that she would curb her wild side, her tidal nature..
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Philippa Gregory |
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cba36cd
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If you mean Charles Stuart,' Frances's voice rang out clearly in the hall, 'then calling him "he of whom you were speaking" is hardly a brilliant disguise. And if is your idea of deep concealment then I don't anticipate great success, on the day of which you have spoken, or any other day, actually." --
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Philippa Gregory |
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131ed32
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As he catches my eye he beams at me, his dark face bright with affection. Anyone can see it who cares to look at him, he is hopelessly indiscreet. He puts his hand to his heart as if swearing fidelity to me. I look to left and right, thank God no-one is looking, they are all getting on their horses and George the duke is shouting for the guard. Recklessly, Richard stands there, his hand on his heart, looking at me as if he wants the world t..
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Philippa Gregory |
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9d3b83f
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I feel as if I can think only when I see the words flowing from the nib of my quill, that my thoughts make sense only when they are black ink on cream paper. I love the sensation of a thought in my head and the vision of the word on the page.
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Philippa Gregory |
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3134f4b
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I will own a cat and not fear being called a witch; I will dance and not fear being named a whore. I shall ride my horse and go where I please. I shall soar like a gyrfalcon. I shall live my own life and please myself. I shall be a free woman. It is no small thing, this, for a woman: freedom.
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Philippa Gregory |
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80a79b8
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We the daughters of Melusina,' she corrects me. 'Your grandmother was a daughter of the water goddess of the royal house of Burgundy and she never forgot that she was both royal and magical. When I was your age I didn't know whether she could summon up a storm or whatever it was all just luck and pretence to get her own way. But she taught me that there is nothing in the world more powerful than a woman who knows what she wants and walks a ..
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Philippa Gregory |
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47d1691
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I raised my hand to wave in case he looked back; but he did not. He rode straight backed, looking forward. He rode like a Howard. We never look back. We have no time for regrets or second thoughts. If a plan goes awry we make another, if one weapon breaks in our hands, we find a second. If the steps fall down before us we overleap them and go up. It is always onwards and upwards for the Howards; and my father was on his way back to court an..
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Philippa Gregory |
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15dc7c4
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Every woman is a mad ugly bad old witch somewhere in her heart.
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women
witch
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Philippa Gregory |
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7e2d518
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Be a wife of whom he can make no complaint, Margaret. That is the best advice I can give to you. You will be his wife; that is to be his servant, his possession. He will be your master. You had better please him.
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marriage
women
personhood
ownership
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Philippa Gregory |
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6b6862e
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I say nothing, not one word, from beginning to end, and neither does he. If it were lawful for a woman to hate her husband, I would hate him as a rapist.
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marital-rape
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Philippa Gregory |
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0a7cf89
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Her confidence is extraordinary, her impertinence unforgivable, her words terribly true.
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Philippa Gregory |
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1d418e9
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I want to take you for pleasure, and hold you in my arms for desire. I want you to know that it is your kiss that I want, not another heir to the throne. You can know that I love you, quite for yourself, when I come to your bed,
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Philippa Gregory |
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7046527
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Learn you to die!" means consider how your death is meaningful, as your life is meaningful."
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Philippa Gregory |
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bbe88d7
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This is a generation of men accustomed to warfare, inured to danger and familiar with cruelty.
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Philippa Gregory |
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bf85311
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Ah, my dear, you are a good wife. You are my beauty. You are my only love.
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Philippa Gregory |
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71b03ac
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Thomas More once told me: lion or king, never show fear or you are a dead man.
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Philippa Gregory |
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00f52cd
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Perhaps we will not be great people, chosen by God, but just happy.
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happiness
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Philippa Gregory |
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a785607
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Like almost all girls I don't know the date of my birth: my parents did not trouble to record the day and the time. I only know the year and the season, and I only know the season because my mother had a great desire for asparagus when she was carrying me and swears that she ate it too green and her bellyache brought on my birth.
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history
women
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Philippa Gregory |
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8d58d50
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People always make up stories about princesses. It comes to us with the crown. We have to carry it as lightly as we can.
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Philippa Gregory |
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9555a11
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But a good man wouldn't marry you for fortune, and perhaps you shouldn't choose such as one as that.
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Philippa Gregory |
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b28d610
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So let me see? What do I have? Surprise! Surprise!
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Philippa Gregory |
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a3f2718
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Don't be afraid of the future, little Julia. Take your present life and live it.
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Philippa Gregory |
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0ccbf5b
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One never gets the same summer twice.
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Philippa Gregory |
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1600835
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The art of happiness is being content with what you have,' she would say, looking with apparent satisfaction out of the dusty windows at the garden, yellowing like an uncut hayfield in the October sunshine.
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Philippa Gregory |
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f41181d
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I also felt a storm in the air. It prickled on the horizon. I felt it on my skin. The skies were clear, I could not wish for clearer. But I could feel the clouds massing against me, somewhere over the horizon.
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Philippa Gregory |
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6892d33
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She flashed me a quick black glance and then her dark eyelashes swept down on her cheeks. 'Not me,' she said 'I make my own plans. I don't risk being taken up and dropped again.' 'You told me to risk it.' I reminded her. 'That was for you,' she said 'I would not live my life as you live yours. You would always do as you were bid. I am not like you. I make my own way.
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Philippa Gregory |
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a982056
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when you love a man who is less than you dreamed, you have to make allowances for the difference between a real man and a dream. Sometimes you have to forgive him. Perhaps you even have to forgive him often. But forgiveness often comes with love.
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Philippa Gregory |
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87f8156
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There was no question now who sat at the right hand of the King. It was the Queen, who walked through the great hall wearing deepest crimson and gold with her head high and a little smile on her lips. She did not flaunt her return to favour. She took it as she had taken her eclipse: as the nature of royal marriage. Now that her star was risen again she walked as proudly as she had ever done when in shadow.
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Philippa Gregory |
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ec6948a
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Anne's smile was as sweet as poison. 'What matter? So long as it is a Boleyn girl?' 'I didn't want you to come back to court to be my rival,' I said sulkily. 'I was born to be your rival,' she said simply. 'And you mine. We're sisters aren't we?
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Philippa Gregory |
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34b8f13
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Nothing would be the same for any woman in this country again. From this time onward no wife, however obedient, however loving, would be safe. For everyone would know that if a wife such as Queen Katherine of England could be put aside for no reason, then any wife could be put aside.
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Philippa Gregory |
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b4c4688
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In a world where women were bought and sold as horses I had found a man I loved; and married for love. I would never suggest that this was a mistake.
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Philippa Gregory |
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387ee05
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But I warn you that a woman who seeks great power and wealth has to pay a great price, Perhaps you will be a great woman like Melusina, or Yolande, or like me; but you will be like all women; uneasy in the world of men.
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Philippa Gregory |
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47c1ec4
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You just decide. Just decide that you are not going to be a fearful woman and when you come to something that makes you apprehensive, you face it and walk towards it. Remember - anything you fear, you walk slowly and steadily towards it. And smile.
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Philippa Gregory |
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a2cbac3
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The castle will seem very quiet and strange without you here. The stone stairs and the chapel will miss your footstep, the gateway will will miss your laughter, and the wall will miss your shadow.
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love
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Philippa Gregory |
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c3eb705
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It matters not at all that I do not want to marry, that I am afraid of the wedding, afraid of consummating the marriage, afraid of childbirth, afraid of everything about being a wife. Nobody even asks if I have lost my childhood sense of vocation, if I still want to be a nun. Nobody cares what I think at all. They treat me like an ordinary young woman, bred for wedding and bedding, and since they do not ask me what I think, nor observe what..
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women
personhood
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Philippa Gregory |
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77585e1
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I would not care whether people thought I was special, if my life was truly special. It would not mater to me that people could see me as pious, if I could truly live as a woman scholar of piety. I want to be what I seem to be. I act as if I am specially holy, a special girl; but this is what I really want to be. I really do.
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Philippa Gregory |
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2c96b55
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The common people only see weakness where there is greatness of spirit.
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Philippa Gregory |
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13a318b
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I don't think your God has ever advised you otherwise. You hear only what you want. He only ever commands your preferences.
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Philippa Gregory |
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e11fd9b
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This is what I feared would come; this is what I have dreaded. It is not very bright and honorable as you have always thought it; it is not like a ballad. It is a muddle and a mess, and a sinful waste, and good men have died and more will follow.
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war
history
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Philippa Gregory |