Antonia Fraser Quotes

My mother was a politician in my formative years. ~ Antonia Fraser

I don't like it, but this afternoon I've told myself I am going to go and get a dress. ~ Antonia Fraser

I realize that I had always in my heart of hearts planned to write a biography of Marie Antoinette. ~ Antonia Fraser

I think there's a tremendous split between people who've been through a war and people who haven't. ~ Antonia Fraser

Mignon' said the King, 'soon you are going to be a great king'. But he also told Anjou, in a memorable phrase
'Try to remain at peace with your neighbors: I have loved war too much ... ~ Antonia Fraser

As long as you persecute people, you will actually throw up terrorism. ~ Antonia Fraser

Normally I make myself swim, do exercises. For zest I like going to the cinema. ~ Antonia Fraser

She saw that supreme dignity - and love - lay in tolerance. ~ Antonia Fraser

I'm glad I was never an heiress. ~ Antonia Fraser

I love hearing details of writers' craft, as cannibals eat the brains of clever men to get cleverer. ~ Antonia Fraser

It is a fact that, being a quick reader, apart from enabling a person to study good books such as Macaulay and Gibbon, enables a person to read a lot of bad books as well. ~ Antonia Fraser

As the Dauphine stepped out of her carriage on to the ceremonial carpet that had been laid down, it was the Duc de Choiseul who was given the privilege of the first salute. Presented with the Duc by Prince Starhemberg, Marie Antoinette exclaimed: 'I shall never forget that you are responsible for my happiness! ~ Antonia Fraser

Her imperturbable self-confidence (Duchesse de Maine) caused Madame de Stael to write that the Duchesse believed in herself the same way she believed in God, without explanation or discussion. ~ Antonia Fraser

My advantage as a woman and a human being has been in having a mother who believed strongly in women's education. She was an early undergraduate at Oxford, and her own mother was a doctor. ~ Antonia Fraser

I decided as usual that justice lay in the middle - that is to say nowhere. ~ Antonia Fraser

If I write that it was a cold day, you can be sure I know it was a cold day because Pepys told us. ~ Antonia Fraser

I think there has been a great deal of valuable revisionism in women's history. ~ Antonia Fraser

Wherever I may be
In the woods or in the fields
Whatever the hours of day
Be it dawn or the eventide
My heart still feels it yet
The eternal regret...
As I sink into my sleep
The absent one is near
Alone upon my couch
I feel his beloved touch
In work or in repose
We are foreverver close... ~ Mary, Queen Of Scots

People in my books tend to get their just deserts, even if not at the hands of the police. ~ Antonia Fraser

My mother, who was quite sharp when I was young, became utterly mild. ~ Antonia Fraser

Ninety-seven is my lucky number. ~ Antonia Fraser

I have seen all, I have heard all, I have forgotten all. marie antoinette ~ Antonia Fraser

Darnley, who, like Banquo's ghost, seemed to play a much more effective part in Scottish politics once he was dead than when he was alive. ~ Antonia Fraser

I think crime writing is my link with trying to preserve a sort of order. ~ Antonia Fraser

The deep division that exists in the human race, regardless of any other more obvious distinction, between those for whom books are an obsession, and those who are prepared, good-humouredly enough, to tolerate their existence. ~ Antonia Fraser

After Mary Queen of Scots, I turned to the farthest subject possible: Cromwell. ~ Antonia Fraser

I think mine is the fullest and most plausible account of what went on in Marie Antoinette's life. ~ Antonia Fraser

The clue to book jacket photography is to look friendly and approachable, but not too glamorous. ~ Antonia Fraser

People cannot help their predilections, although they may conceal them. ~ Antonia Fraser

[In 16th century European society] Marriage was the triumphal arch through which women, almost without exception, had to pass in order to reach the public eye. And after marriage followed, in theory, the total self-abnegation of the woman. ~ Antonia Fraser

Of course there's no such thing as a totally objective person, except Almighty God, if she exists. ~ Antonia Fraser

That is my major concern: writers who are in prison for writing. ~ Antonia Fraser

I hate the only one of my book jackets when I was made up professionally, my hair made into a smooth bell. ~ Antonia Fraser

Antonia came in and stood before me ... It was a shock, of course. It always is, to meet people after long years, especially if they have lived as much and as hard as this woman had. We stood looking at each other. The eyes that peered anxiously at me were - simply Antonia's eyes..As I confronted her, the changes grew less apparent to me, her identity stronger. She was there in the full vigour of her personality, battered, but not diminished ... ~ Willa Cather

It has been said that large staffs are the invariable sign of bad armies. ~ David Fraser

English is a beautiful language, a remarkably precise language with a million words to choose from to deliver your exact shade of meaning. ~ Laura Fraser

Now Malcolm was back again, but he came once too often, and was killed at Alnwick in 1093. ~ George MacDonald Fraser

You said you could tear me limb from limb without touching me," I said. "You were right, damn you."
"I am sorry," he whispered again, but this time he reached for me, and held me tight against him.
"That I loved you? Don't be sorry for that," I said, my voice half muffled in his shirt. "Not ever. ~ Diana Gabaldon

I jumped into a crowd full of "u"s they turned into underscores. Hit the pavement hard." visualization words ~ Antonia Perdu

The closer I get to God, the blacker the little sins appear ~ Fraser Young

I'm a bit of a book worm, so a lot of the songs I write are inspired by books. ~ Brooke Fraser

That was what I loved most about the capital; as terrifying and vast as it was, the opportunity for wonder existed. People could meet and part as in dreams. ~ Nina Antonia

We were examining a big hole with two entrances. The burrow sloped into the ground at a gentle angle, so that we could see where the two corridors united, and the floor was dusty from use, like a little highway over which much travel went. I was walking backward, in a crouching position, when I heard Antonia scream. She was standing opposite me, pointing behind me and shouting something in Bohemian. I whirled around, and there, on one of those dry gravel beds, was the biggest snake I had ever seen. He was sunning himself, after the cold night, and he must have been asleep when Antonia screamed. When I turned, he was lying in loose waves, like a letter "W". He twitched and began to coil slowly. He was not merely a big snake, I thought - he was a circus monstrosity. His abominable muscularity, his loathsome, fluid motion, somehow made me sick. He was as thick as my leg, and looked as if millstones couldn't crush the disgusting vitality out of him. He lifted his hideous little head , and rattled. I didn't run because I didn't think of it - if my back had been against a stone wall I couldn't have felt more cornered. I saw his coils tighten - now he would spring, spring his length, I remembered. I ran up and drove at his head with my spade, struck him fairly across the neck, and in a minute he was all about my feet in wavy loops. I struck now from hate. Antonia, barefooted as she was, ran up behind me. Even after I had pounded his ugly head flat, his body kept on coiling and windi ~ Willa Cather

An incredulous look spread across his face. "Fer fook's sake, Emma--don't tell me ye haven't done the nasty, yet? What's the matter wi' yeh?"

I punched him in the arm. "Shut up," I hissed. "I have no intention of discussing this with you. You're--You're just a child!"

I stomped back into the kitchen.

"A child who's plainly gettin' more than you," he yelled after me. ~ K.C. Dyer

The tower was battered, a relic of a distant past. Yet there was a dignity to it, a grace that belied the pockmarked walls and broken stone. It had endured through the centuries, its lonely vigil immune to the machinations of men. It was a symbol of what had been, and Jack shivered as an uneasy chill ran down his spine. ~ Paul Fraser Collard

I know gray areas too well. I write for silent audiences. ~ Antonia Perdu

And you, my Sassenach? What were you born for? To be lady of a manor, or to sleep in the fields like a gypsy? To be a healer, or a don's wife, or an outlaw's lady?"
"I was born for you," I said simply, and held out my arms to him. ~ Diana Gabaldon

The enigma.
The flowers that bloom in the dark shine the brightest.
We bloom from the moonlight. ~ Antonia Perdu

Pünd remembered their first case together when Fraser had failed to notice that his travelling companion, on the three-fifty train from Paddington, was actually dead. ~ Anthony Horowitz

I want to catch Mr Whitlam with his pants down. ~ Malcolm Fraser

As a child, I survived by forgetting. Later, the amnesia became a problem as large as the one it was meant to conceal. However, I did not remember my past until the homemade bomb was defused, until the evil was contained, until I was stable enough and happy enough that sorrow or anger or regret or pain was overwhelmed by joy at my release. To reach this state, I needed the help of friends and healers. This I had in abundance. (252) ~ Sylvia Fraser

That's what marriage is good for; it makes a sacrament out of things ye'd otherwise have to confess. Jamie Fraser ~ Diana Gabaldon

Storylines from fiction always seem inherently improbable to occur in real life, yet when we read them we are happy to suspend our disbelief, which may simply suggest that in our everyday lives we have an irrational craving for certainty and probability. ~ Guy Fraser-Sampson

This was our last night. We only had one curtain call, Bree. And I thought they were going to give us a standing ovation, but no-o-o-. Do you know why half the audience stood up?"
"To get a head start on the traffic," Bree said.
"To get a head start on the traffic," Antonia agreed in indignation. "I mean, here we are, dancing and singing our little guts out, and all those folks want to do is get to bed early. I ask you, whatever happened to common courtesy? Whatever happened to decent manners? Doesn't anyone care about craft anymore? And on top of that, it's not even nice. ~ Mary Stanton

Really love him, I mean," Geilie persisted. "Not just to bed him; I know you want that, and he does too. They all do. But do you love him?"
Did I love him? Beyond the urges of the flesh? The hole had the dark anonymity of the confessional, and a soul on the verge of death had no time for lies.
"Yes," I said, and laid my head back on my knees.
It was silent in the hole for some time, and I hovered once more on the verge of sleep, when I heard her speak once more, as though to herself.
"So it's possible," she said thoughtfully. ~ Diana Gabaldon

Who was my other self? Though we had split one personality between us, I was the majority shareholder. I went to school, made friends, gained experience, developing my part of the personality, while she remained morally and emotionally a child, functioning on instinct rather than on intelligence. - Sylvia Fraser (1987, p. 24) ~ Onno Van Der Hart

What is overlooked is the astonishing amount of history Hollywood has got right ... For better or worse, nothing has been more influential in shaping our visions of the past than the commercial cinema. ~ George MacDonald Fraser

He whom is without typos, throw the first stone. ~ Antonia Perdu

Talk to each other. Never go to bed when you're angry with each other. Lady Antonia Frasier who was married to Harold Pinter said they never went to bed on an argument. ~ Elton John

Look back, hold a torch to light the recesses of the dark. Listen to the footsteps that echo behind, when you walk alone.
All the time the ghosts flit past and through us, hiding in the future. We look in the mirror and see the shades of other faces looking back through the years; we see the shape of memory, standing solid in an empty doorway. By blood and by choice, we make our ghosts; we haunt ourselves.
Each ghost comes unbidden from the misty grounds of dream and silence.
Our rational minds say, "No, it isn't."
But another part, an older part, echoes always softly in the dark, "Yes, but it could be. ~ Diana Gabaldon

He looked at the gun. "Aren't you afraid?"
"Of course I am," Anna said. "Of course I'm afraid. But that doesn't help."
He shook his head. "No," he said, "it doesn't help to be afraid. Bad things happen anyway. You're right. ~ Antonia Michaelis

The one who poses the most danger may not be a stranger, Sometimes it's those we hold dear that we really need to fear ~ Antonia Monacelli

There ain't no sky,' said one [boy]. But what is it that ain't?' asked the other. ~ J.T. Fraser

The images attempt to capture scientific thought. They represent the physical manifestation of the thought process. Everything in the laboratory is a product of a stream of conscious or unconscious thought. ~ Peter Fraser

To these women, the veil constitutes an extremely important part of the idea of 'getting dressed', whereas in the West the veil represents a symbol of male dominance.. ~ Antonia Young

The music that I make isn't really like any of the music that I listen to. I think I listen to cool music, but I know that I don't make cool music - so it's kind of funny! ~ Brooke Fraser

The white noise from the old Walkman enveloped them both; like a blanket of new snow, it draped itself over them, shutting out all the curious looks.
And the world under the blanket was - surprisingly, wonderfully - absolutely, quiet. ~ Antonia Michaelis

I've always believed that the desire must come from within, not as a result of being driven by coaches or parents. ~ Dawn Fraser

I dinna mean to interruupt ye, Sassenach" he whispered in my air. "But would ye like a bit of help we that? ~ Diana Gabaldon

I was sufficiently recovered from my nervous condition – or else the booze was beginning to work – to be able to discuss with Rudi the merits of checked or striped trousers, which had been the great debate among the London nobs that year. I was a check-er myself, having the height and leg for it, but Rudi thought they looked bumpkinish, which only shows what damned queer taste they had in Austria in those days. Of course, if you'll put up with Metternich you'll put up with anything. ~ George MacDonald Fraser

Forgiving is hard, but not forgiving is harder ~ Mother Antonia

And what's wrong wi' the way ye smell?' he said heatedly. 'At least ye smelt like a woman, not a damn flower garden. What d'ye think I am, a man or a bumblebee? Would ye wash yourself, Sassenach, so I can get within less than ten feet of ye? ~ Diana Gabaldon

I've worked hard all my life. ~ Dawn Fraser

She didn't know if this excitement was fueled by her ambition to find out something that nobody else knew. Or by the anticipation of finding out. ~ Antonia Michaelis

It wasn't the risk," I said, flicking my toes at a big black-and-white splotched carp. "Or not entirely. It was - well, it was partly fear, but mostly it was that I - I couldn't leave Jamie." I shrugged helplessly. "I - simply couldn't. ~ Diana Gabaldon

You are safe," he said firmly. "You have my name and my family, my clan, and if necessary, the protection of my body as well. The man willna lay hands on ye again, while I live. ~ Diana Gabaldon