Philippa Marbury Quotes

It ain't my problem if the ladies are drawn to me," Digger said. "A gentleman doesn't turn 'em away if they're askin' for a minute or two." His eyes slid to Pippa once more. "Ain't that right, Lady Soon-to-be-a-countess?"
"I find it difficult to believe either that ladies are drawn to you or that, in such a case, you would act the part of a gentleman," Pippa retorted. ~ Sarah MacLean

I don't understand," Olivia said. "How did Penny sewing and unsewing make for the Trojan War?"
"Penelope was Odysseus's wife," Philippa explained. "He left her, and she sat at her loom, sewing all day, and unraveling all her work at night. For years."
"Why on earth would someone do that?" Olivia wrinkled her nose, selecting a sweet from a nearby tray. "Years? Really?"
"She was waiting for him to come home," Penelope said, meeting Michael's gaze. There was something meaningful there, and he thought she might be speaking of more than the Greek myth. Did she wait for him at night? She'd told him not to touch her... she'd pushed him away... but tonight, if he went to her, would she accept him? Would she follow the path of her namesake?
"I hope you have more exciting things to do when you are waiting for Michael to come home, Penny," Olivia teased.
Penelope smiled, but there was something in her gaze that he did not like, something akin to sadness. He blamed himself for it. Before him, she was happier. Before him, she smiled and laughed and played games with her sisters without reminder of her unfortunate fate.
He stood to meet her as she approached the settee. "I would never leave my Penelope for years." He said, "I would be too afraid that someone would snatch her away." His mother-in-law sighed audibly from across the room as his new sisters laughed. He lifted one of Penelope's hands in his and brushed a kiss across her knuckles. "Penelope and Odys ~ Sarah MacLean

She extended her hand. "I'm afraid you have the better of me, sir. I've not made the pleasure of your acquaintance."
He gave her proffered hand a long look before meeting her gaze once more, as though giving her the chance to change her mind. "I am Temple."
The Duke of Lamont.
The murderer.
She stepped back, her hand falling involuntarily at the thought before she could stop it. "Oh."
His lips twisted in a wry smile. "Now you're wishing you hadn't come here after all."
Her mind raced. He wouldn't hurt her. He was Bourne's partner. He was Mr. Cross's partner. It was the middle of the day. People were not killed in Mayfair in the middle of the day.
And for all she'd heard about this dark, dangerous man, there wasn't a single stitch of proof that he'd done that which he was purported to have done.
She extended her hand once more. "I am Philippa Marbury."
One black brow arched, but he took her hand firmly. "Brave girl."
"There's no proof that you're what they say."
"Gossip is damning enough."
She shook her head. "I am a scientist. Hypotheses are useless without evidence."
One side of his mouth twitched. "Would that the rest of England were as thorough. ~ Sarah MacLean

Joan was a young woman who tried to walk her own path in the world of men, just as my great-aunt told me. And it led to this cold tower, this swan dive, this death. ~ Philippa Gregory

Why?' said Philippa. 'For suffering what you have suffered for three months?' And felt the veils rend about her, for she had broken the unwritten law: it must not be uttered. It must not be uttered, or they could not bear the pain, mirrored over and over. ~ Dorothy Dunnett

Funny sky,' he said, squinting up at the thick-bellied white clouds and the sun shining so hot on them but not breaking through.
'It feels as if there should be a storm,' I said 'but it was like this at haymaking and the weather never properly broke then.'
'If I was at sea I should run for a port,' Ralph said. He was looking towards the horizon where there was a yellow tinge to the sky over the top of the downs. ~ Philippa Gregory

I realize that I can laugh, that it is possible to be happy, that laughter and hope can come back to me. ~ Philippa Gregory

The toughest opponents to defend are Iverson, Marbury and Payton. They are all very talented and can shoot at anytime from anywhere. ~ Steve Nash

Philippa allowed polite regret to inform every muscle. 'Whatever day it occurs,' she said, 'I feel I have a previous engagement.'

'May I congratulate you,' he said agreeably, 'on your evident popularity.'

'Anything I can do,' Philippa said, 'to save you from the exhaustions of pluralism. ~ Dorothy Dunnett

I can't sleep," he says so quietly that only I can hear. "I can't sleep. I can't sleep. I can't sleep."
"Nor I."
"You neither?"
"No."
"Truly?"
"Yes."
He sighs a deep sigh, as if he is relieved. "Is this love then?"
"I suppose so."
"I can't eat."
"No."
"I can't think of anything but you. I can't go on another moment like this; I can't ride out into battle like this. I am as foolish as a boy. I am mad for you, like a boy. I cannot be without you; I will not be
without you. Whatever it costs me."
I can feel my color rising like heat in my cheeks, and for the first time in days I can feel myself smile. "I can't think of anything but you," I whisper. "Nothing. I thought I was sick."
The ring like a crown is heavy in my pocket, my headdress is pulling at my hair; but I stand without awareness, seeing nothing but him, feeling nothing but his warm breath on my cheek and scenting
the smell of his horse, the leather of his saddle, and the smell of him: spices, rosewater, sweat.
"I am mad for you," he says.
I feel my smile turn up my lips as I look into his face at last. "And I for you," I say quietly. "Truly. ~ Philippa Gregory

We are making a new order," he said. "A new world. There is talk of the end of the authority of the Pope, the map of France and Spain is being redrawn. Everything is changing, and here we are, at the very front of the change. ~ Philippa Gregory

Thomas More once told me: lion or king, never show fear or you are a dead man. ~ Philippa Gregory

It used to be thought that you stopped making new neural connections in your youth and from then on your brain was fixed and it was downhill all the way. But in fact as we know from our own experience we can keep on learning and learning means changing our brain on a physical level. ~ Philippa Perry

I will learn to smile at my enemies. ~ Philippa Gregory

I shall be dark and French and fashionable and difficult. And you shall be sweet and open and English and fair. What a pair we shall be! What man can resist us? ~ Philippa Gregory

He knew as well as I did that you cannot release a girl from her promise to love a man. She either gets herself free or she is bound for life. ~ Philippa Gregory

Our brains do not have to be fixed, they can be plastic. ~ Philippa Perry

Are you by any chance …' said Lymond.

'… baiting you?' Philippa said. 'Only when you are inclined to be magisterial.'

'Oh, good God,' Lymond said. 'Kate must be out of her mind.'

'And thank heaven you aren't my father?' said Philippa.

'Roughly,' said Lymond, and began to laugh, and then stopped. ~ Dorothy Dunnett

Nothing stands still, except in our memory. ~ Philippa Pearce

We stood for a moment, handclasped in the warm sunshine, and I thought, like a lovesick girl: This is heaven. ~ Philippa Gregory

My honour and my pride are in my heart, and not in what the world says. ~ Philippa Gregory

She can speak three languages, but she can tell the truth in none of them. ~ Philippa Gregory

She was like a mother to me ... and I betrayed as a daughter will betray her mother and yet, never stop loving her. ~ Philippa Gregory

I believe in me, in my view of the world. I believe in my responsibility for my own destiny, guilt for my own sins, merit for my own good deeds, determination of my own life. I don't believe in miracles, I believe in hard work. ~ Philippa Gregory

It's as if our name is both our greatest pride and our curse," I say. ~ Philippa Gregory

Only common mortals like the Somervilles have good old rotten hates, dear,' said her mother. 'Sir Graham manages to love everybody and wouldn't know what you're talking about. Have a bun.'

'He doesn't love the Turks,' said Philippa. 'He kills them.'

'That isn't hate,' said Kate Somerville. 'That's simply hoeing among one's principles to keep them healthy and neat. I'm sure he would tell you he bears them no personal grudge; and they think they're going to Paradise anyway, so it does everyone good. ~ Dorothy Dunnett

Loving a woman and loving his child is enough, ~ Philippa Gregory

Whether you plan or whether you flow in order to be creative probably isn't the point. The point is to keep practicing to maintain neural pathways and to establish new ones by learning new skills. ~ Philippa Perry

To a chorus of resonant barking, the instruments proceeded to adjust themselves into tune. A billy-goat, alarmed, aroused his harem, and distantly a muffled lowing broke out.

Philippa said, 'Oh dear. It must have cost a fortune. Did Gideon ever do this to you?'

Kate thought. 'No, but I did it to him. He hadn't called to see me for a week, so I sent eight bell ringers to serenade him at cock-crow and his mother's parrot dropped dead, quoting Luther.'

'What did it say?' Philippa said. Sitting on the sill, with her long brown hair falling over her night robe, she looked, in the darkness, like the daughter who had come back from Turkey: calm and smiling and soignée.

'Music is a fair and lovely gift of God, and deserves to be extolled as the mistress and governess of the feelings of the human heart,' said Kate, surprised. ~ Dorothy Dunnett

She has followed me into every single room in this palace, and then she followed Anne Neville when she was her lady-in-waiting, too. She walked behind Anne at her coronation, carrying the train. Perhaps Lady Margaret is feeling that it's her turn to be the first lady now, and she wants someone trailing along behind her. ~ Philippa Gregory

I wil not heat treason from my own daughter
What will you do behead me for treason? We are not an amry at war
We are an army at war! This is your brother's rightful throne that we are talking about ~ Philippa Gregory

They'll even marry an aging spinster to get it."
She hated him then. Hated the words, the way he spoke them with such simple cruelty. Tears threatened. ~ Sarah MacLean

As my wife you cannot refuse me. I have a right to you, as your betrothed husband. From now, till your death, you will never be able to refuse me. There can be no rape between us, only my rights and your duty. ~ Philippa Gregory

It's just that... since we met, I have been rather... well, fascinated by..."
You.
Say it, he willed, not entirely certain what he would do if she did, but willing to put himself to the test.
She took another breath. "By your bones."
Would she ever say anything expected? "My bones?"
She nodded. "Yes. Well, the muscles and tendons, too. Your forearms. Your thighs. And earlier- while I watched you drink whiskey- by your hands."
Cross had been propositioned many times in his life. He'd made a career of refusing women's requests. But he had never been complimented on his bones.
It was the strangest, sexiest confession he'd ever heard.
And he had no idea how to respond. ~ Sarah MacLean

You are not Melusina, rising from a fountain to easy happiness. You will not be a beautiful woman at court with nothing to do but make magic. The road you have chosen will mean that you have to spend your life scheming and fighting. Our task, as your family, is to make sure you win. ~ Philippa Gregory

I understand now why they break into convents, force women against their will, defy sanctuary to finish the killing chase. They arouse in themselves a wild vicious hunger more like animals than men. I did not know that war was like this. I feel I have been a fool not to know, since I was raised in a kingdom at war and am the daughter of a man captured in battle, the widow of a knight, the wife of a merciless soldier. But I know now. ~ Philippa Gregory

It is not love that matters, Mistress Boy, it is what you choose to do with it. What'd you choose to do with yours? ~ Philippa Gregory

Eyes downcast, she went past me without a glance. Dismissively her gown brushed my knees as if I should have drawn further back, out of her way, as if everyone should always step back to let Anne through. Then she was gone and as I looked up I met the Queen's eye. She looked blankly at me as I might look at a rivalry of birds fluttering in a dovecote. It was not as if it mattered. They would all be eaten in time. ~ Philippa Gregory