Kate Williams Quotes

The 19th century became the age of the museum. Objects were scrambled for, specimens seized, and friezes and antiques grasped. ~ Kate Williams

Still often interventionist, convinced of our importance in the world, even those of us born long after 1900 live in a country that is much more Victorian than we think. ~ Kate Williams

Precise historical reasons are difficult to pinpoint, but red hair, it seems, bestows a sense of otherness. Red is the colour of blood and danger. ~ Kate Williams

One of Britain's big problems throughout history has been that we lust after consumer goods from elsewhere, but our friends overseas have been less enthusiastic about buying things we produce. ~ Kate Williams

Are we really so far from the Victorians? Much of what our society holds important was shaped in the 19th century. ~ Kate Williams

Usually, historical revelations come from days of legwork, ploughing through piles of letters and papers in archives or even private homes, looking for the telling phrase or letter that someone else has missed. ~ Kate Williams

Throughout the 19th century, Britain bought cheaply from the countries of the empire and compelled subject countries to buy our goods at high prices. ~ Kate Williams

There were strange noises in the room, great bellowing sobs that did not sound like anything human. They bounced off the wals, echoing in her ears. Stop! she wanted to cry at the person who was making the noise. Then she realised that it was her. ~ Kate Williams

Visit any bookshop in Europe, and the shelves are filled with English novels and non-fiction books in translation - while British bookshops stock mainly English and American works. ~ Kate Williams

I've written extensively on Queen Victoria and Queen Elizabeth and seen up close how those women, who were born when the country hoped for a male heir, made their way as leaders. ~ Kate Williams

I am more English than the English.- Rudolf de Vitt ~ Kate Williams

Redheads were particularly persecuted during the European witch trials of the fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The colour was associated with the devil, and the pale skin which most redheads have was thought unnatural and deathly. ~ Kate Williams

It's the 21st century. It's untenable to suggest that women had no significance and no interest and that just because they didn't vote they had no relevance to the course of our history. ~ Kate Williams

I am part of a team organising an Emma Hamilton exhibition for the National Maritime Museum for 2016, and the amount of planning is a revelation - borrowing from museums and collections all over the world. ~ Kate Williams

British passion for Chinese tea was unstoppable, but the Chinese had no desire for our offerings, however much we tried to sell them woolen clothes or cutlery. ~ Kate Williams

As the weather improved, the bobms got worse. The newspapers said that the Kaiser was aiming to knock London down (although avoiding Buckingham Palace, so as not to hit his relations). ~ Kate Williams

Albert liked to play the stoic, and he embraced the opportunity to do over the negotiations about the marriage. He insisted that Uncle Leopold know what a great sacrifice he was making for the Saxe-Coburg family and Germany. As he gloomily lectured his uncle, 'troubles are inseparable from all human positions and…therefore if one must be subject to plagues and annoyances, it is better to be so for some great or worthy object than for trifles or miseries.'

Unfortunately for Albert, Leopold was deaf to self-pitying emotional blackmail and remained determined on his course. ~ Kate Williams

Between 1945 and 1965, the number of colonial people ruled by the British monarch plunged from 700 million to five million. In 1956, just three years after the coronation, the Suez canal crisis and Anthony Eden's humiliation ended all notions that Britain was a world superpower. ~ Kate Williams

It is calculated that George III had an astonishing fifty-six grandchildren. He did not have one legitimate heir. The vision of Charlotte had sustained the people through the direst years of the regency. Without her, all hope seemed gone.

From "Becoming Queen Victoria ~ Kate Williams

Victoria liked music full of high passion and drama. "I am a terribly modern person," she decided. ~ Kate Williams

Britain's passion for Christmas and huge white weddings dates from Victorian times - both were low-key celebrations before Victoria and her PR machine. ~ Kate Williams

I used to hate reading my old work, but now I'm rather fond of it. I quite like going through it in the hope of making it better. ~ Kate Williams

I've always considered myself to look like a rather plain-and-exhausted bluestocking, so it's rather odd to read Tweets commenting on my appearance. ~ Kate Williams

While you are waiting to die, you have to live. ~ Kate Williams

I wouldn't mind an original letter from Napoleon to Josephine - in the early days, his letters arrived torn to pieces because he was overwhelmed by his passion for her. ~ Kate Williams

Anglo-Saxon kings often used to favour their sister's son to their own - for at least you could guarantee there was your own blood in your sister's son! ~ Kate Williams

The centuries-old habit of privileging the male heir arose because monarchs were supposed to lead their country in battle, and only men were thought strong enough to do so. ~ Kate Williams

Women's stories have been neglected for so long - unless they were queens. Exploring the history of women is a way of redressing that imbalance. ~ Kate Williams

People are not happy with women in actual power, yet we seem to be happy to take women on as figureheads, objects, like queens. It's a powerful yet politically powerless role. ~ Kate Williams

Queens perhaps perform better in the role of monarch because they never take their position for granted. Many kings have failed because they believed that the public would love them whatever they did. Queens knew better. ~ Kate Williams

I receive many letters from people hoping to research their own houses. ~ Kate Williams

As an older child, I was a huge 'Anne Of Green Gables' fan. ~ Kate Williams

One child is never enough for a monarch. ~ Kate Williams

Colour is really important to me when buying clothes. I wear a lot of fitted jackets, and because I'm small, I avoid long skirts and coats. And I hate wearing hats. ~ Kate Williams

Eighteenth-century matrons would have never have dreamed of appointing a redhaired wet nurse for their precious offspring - redheads passed on their horrible characters through their milk. ~ Kate Williams

When I was a child, one of my first games was a time machine which I made for my brother - a big box covered in silver and bits of cellophane. I'd close him up in it and joggle him and say, 'We're in Victorian times now ... and now we're in Egyptian times, and I can see all these pyramids and pharaohs.' ~ Kate Williams

Indeed, throughout much of history and in many cultures, redheads have been viewed with suspicion and fear - and even killed - because of their hair. ~ Kate Williams

I chose my house because I loved the fact that there was a really busy road with lots of things to stare at. ~ Kate Williams

Now I would go to London's Pudding Lane on 2 September 1666 and put out that little fire. I'd love to investigate the histories of a few of the buildings that burned for Restoration Home. ~ Kate Williams

I really enjoy watching TV; it offers an amazing window, and its an incredible way of presenting history to young people in particular. ~ Kate Williams

As historians, we spend days in archives, gazing at account books. We train would-be historians in the arts of deciphering letters and documents, early Latin, scribal handwriting, medieval French. ~ Kate Williams

I have a big, flamboyant, open personality, which I think is why people may be saying these nice things about me. ~ Kate Hudson

Megan Meade's Guide to the McGowan Boys
Entry One

Observation #1: When they're beautiful, they know they're beautiful.
Like the second-to-oldest one, Evan. He's a senior. He is perfection personified. And he knows it. You can tell because he just sort of smiles knowingly when you gape at him. Not that I've been gaping at him. Not at all. Anyway, too soon yet to tell if it negatively affects his behavior. (Like Mike Blukowsi and his Astrodome-sized ego problem.)

Observation #2: They like skin.
Especially skin they think they're not necessarily supposed to be seeing. Like the space between your belly tee and your waistband.

Observation #3: They have no problem bringing up events that would mortify me into shamed silence if the roles were reversed.
Like Evan totally brought up the wiffleball bat incident, when if that had happened to me, I'd be wishing on every one of my birthday cakes for everyone to forget it.

Observation #4: They gossip.
Can you believe it? I overheard Finn and Doug in the backyard talking about some girl named Dawn who blew off some guy named Simon for some other guy named Rick for like TWENTY MINUTES! They sounded like those old mole-hair ladies at Sal's Milkshakes. 'Member the ones who lectured us for a whole hour that day about how young women shouldn't wear shorts? Wait, okay, I got sidetracked.

Observation #5: The older ones are so cute with the younger ones.
They were ~ Kate Brian

When I'm writing I've been playing something for a couple of hours and I'm almost in a trance. At two or three in the morning you can actually see bits of inspiration floating about and grab them. ~ Kate Bush

Louisiana stood up again. She was holding Bunny close to her chest. She faced forward. 'Go faster,' she said.
'Are you kidding?' said Beverly. 'Who do you think you are? Some kind of queen? We're pushing as hard as we can. This grocery cart is worthless. It's like the wheels aren't even wheels. It's like they're squares or something. ~ Kate DiCamillo

And the way he looked at her was so intense, his big green eyes probing into her, like he approved of everything she held inside. ~ Lauren Kate

I was lucky enough to be able to grow and mature in a natural way as an actress. ~ Kate Burton

I'm usually trying to get back into the dream or analyzing the dream. And yeah, the days, most days begin like that. ~ Saul Williams

There's nothing I miss about anything in the whole wide world. The idea of missing something means you're not living in the moment. Every moment is good for something. ~ Ricky Williams

She is quick and curious and playful and strong. ~ Kate Spade

The difference between an opportunity and a problem is the individual that first faces the situation. ~ Adrian Williams

Kate?"
I have a superior reaction time. That was why although I shot out of my chair, jumped onto my desk, and attempted to stab the intruder into my office in the throat, I stopped the blade two inches before it touched Andrea's neck. Because she was my best friend, and sticking knives into your best friend's windpipe was generally considered to be a social faux pas.
Andrea stared at the black blade of the throwing dagger. "That was great," she said. "What will you do for a dollar? ~ Ilona Andrews

When I am alone I am happy. ~ William Carlos Williams

Away, you trifler! Love! I love thee not,
I care not for thee, Kate: this is no world
To play with mammets and to tilt with lips:
We must have bloody noses and cracked crowns. ~ William Shakespeare

Two hermits lived together for many years without a quarrel. One said to the other, "Let's have a quarrel with each other, as other men do." The other answered, "I don't know how a quarrel happens." The first said, "Look here, I put a brick between us, and I say, 'That's mine.' Then you say, 'No, it's mine.' That is how you begin a quarrel." So they put a brick between them and one of them said, "That's mine." The other said, "No, it's mine." He answered, "Yes, it's yours. Take it away." They were unable to argue with each other. ~ Rowan Williams

Guy Pearce played Mike in 'Neighbors'. I would fake illness to stay off school and watch the one P.M. show, and I would also watch it again when it was repeated at 5:25 P.M. Obsessed. ~ Kate Winslet

Scared ya, did I? Aw, that's sweet. Don't worry the shocks won't kill me," she whispered. "They only make me stronger. Anyway, it was worth it to give that cow a black eye, ya know? ~ Lauren Kate

If we are at all sensitive to the life around us, to one another's pains and joys,
to the beauty and fragility of the Earth, it is all about being broken open, allowing ourselves to
step out from out hardened veneers and expose our core, allowing ourselves to be vulnerable in our emotional response to the world. And how can we not respond? This is what I mean by being 'broken open.' To engage. To love. Any one of these actions of the heart will lead to a personal transformation that bears collective gifts. ~ Terry Tempest Williams

Tho' the world could turn from you, This, at least, I learn from you: Beauty and Truth, tho' never found, are worthy to be sought, The singer, upward-springing, Is grander than his singing, And tranquil self-sufficing joy illumes the dark of thought. This, at least, you teach me, In a revelation: That gods still snatch, as worthy death, the soul in its aspiration. ~ Robert Williams Buchanan

Youth is given up to illusions. ~ Kate Chopin

I know what Travis was like before you, and i know what he's like since you, and I like the latter." Casey's voice was firm as his eyes held mine. "He smiles like he means it, even after a long shitty day like he's dealing with today." Casey tapped a finger to his temple. "Up here, there's you at the back of all that, making his day not so shit because at the end of it, he gets you. ~ Kate McCarthy

Without manners, violence enters the room. Without the decency of imagination, narcissism leads. ~ Terry Tempest Williams

For a minute or a lifetime, some people try to clip your wings, while others help you learn to fly. ~ Kate Sterritt

The story knows itself better than the writer does at some point, knows what's being said before the writer figures out how to say it. ~ Joy Williams

Be the person you really are and not the person you'e allowed yourself to become, Kate said to Nikki.
From 'Life Song ~ Christine M. Knight

he inadvertently opened the door to a storeroom on the station and found it full of aircrew uniforms on hangers. He thought they must be replacement issue until he looked more closely and saw the brevets and stripes and ribbon medals and realized they had come off the bodies of the dead and injured. The empty uniforms would have provided a poetic image if he hadn't more or less relinquished poetry by then. ~ Kate Atkinson

greatly. If you have no intention of loving or being loved, then the whole journey is pointless. ~ Kate DiCamillo

I think that there's always room for humour in music. It's something that always takes itself so seriously, which I think is a bit of a shame. ~ Kate Bush

I started writing more with my voice in mind. ~ Lucinda Williams

Where you are defines what you're interested in. ~ Evan Williams

These were the things we would never notice were missing. ~ Kate Chisman

Was it possible to fall in love with the same man over and over again, every single day? ~ Julia Quinn

Books have always helped me make sense of things. With any life experience, you can find someone who has documented it in a poetic way. ~ Kate Beckinsale

-by reading book after book (the only reliable otherworlds I've discovered so far). ~ Kate Atkinson

But, alas, he never really belonged in either place, the sad fate, I am afraid, of those whose hearts break and then mend in crooked ways. ~ Kate DiCamillo

If we fail in this country, it is because we are too timid. If we lose our way in America, it is because we are too complacent. We must become conscious to the real threats before us and act creatively, imaginatively, now. We can no longer look to leadership beyond ourselves. ~ Terry Tempest Williams

It's huge in the U.K., if someone's doing well, to put them down. That's what we do all the time. It's kind of like a cultural thing. ~ Maisie Williams

Reduced employment opportunities is one effect of minimum wage legislation. The minimum wage law has imposed incalculable harm on the disadvantaged members of our society. The only moral thing to do is to repeal it. ~ Walter E. Williams

I do love New York. But I'm a Londoner at heart. ~ Kate Moss