Quotes from A Kingdom of Dreams

“The groom always smiles proudly because he's convinced he's accomplished something quite wonderful. The bride smiles because she's been able to convince him of it.”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

“Some women need no jewels to make them sparkle. You are one of them.

-Royce Westmoreland”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

“You are mad!" she snapped, her chest heaving. "And you are a devil!"
"And you, my dear," Royce imperturbably replied, "are a bitch." With that, he
turned to the horrified friar and unhesitatingly announced, "The lady and I wish to be wed.”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

“Why is it when you yield, I feel like the one who has been conquered?"

-Royce Westmoreland”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

“It was a kingdom of dreams — a place where things would be just the way I wanted them to be.”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

“An answering smile drifted across his tanned face. "What is mine, I intend to
keep.”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

“Behold your new mistress, my wife," he pronounced, "and know that when she
bids you, I have bidden you. What service you render her, you are rendering me. What loyalty you give or withhold from her, you give or withhold from me!"

-Royce Westmoreland”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

“Royce understood then why she had come: she had come to finish the task her relatives had begun; to do to him what he had done to her brother. Unmoving, he watched her, noting that tears were pouring down her beautiful face as she slowly bent down. But instead of reaching for his lance or her dagger, she took his hand between both of hers and pressed her lips to it. Through his daze of pain and confusion, Royce finally understood that she was kneeling to him, and a groan tore from his chest: "Darling," he said brokenly, tightening his hand, trying to make her stand, "don't do this…"
But his wife wouldn't listen. In front of seven thousand onlookers, Jennifer Merrick Westmoreland, countess of Rockbourn, knelt before her husband in a public act of humble obeisance, her face pressed to his hand, her shoulders wrenched with violent sobs. By the time she finally arose, there could not have been many among the spectators who had not seen what she had done. Standing up, she stepped back, lifted her tear-streaked face to his, and squared her shoulders.
Pride exploded in Royce's battered being—because, somehow, she was managing to stand as proudly—as defiantly—as if she had just been knighted by a king.”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

“What were you thinking about just
now while you were looking out the window?" To his surprise, the question flustered her.
"I—wasn't thinking."
"Then what were you doing?" he asked, his curiosity aroused.
A rueful smile touched her inviting lips, and she shot him a sideways look before turning back to the
window. "I was… talking to God," she admitted. "'Tis a habit I have."
Startled and slightly amused, Royce said, "Really? What did God have to say?"
"I think," she softly replied, "He said, 'You're welcome.' "
"For what?" Royce teased.
Lifting her eyes to his, Jenny solemnly replied, "For you.”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

“After all, it's not every day a woman is given a kingdom of dreams.”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

“How strange, Royce thought, that, after emerging victorious from more than a hundred real battles, the greatest moment of triumph he had ever known had come to him on a mock battlefield where he'd stood alone, unhorsed, and defeated. This morning, his life had seemed as bleak as death. Tonight, he held joy in his arms. Someone or something—fate or fortune or Jenny's God—had looked down upon him this morning and seen his anguish. And, for some reason, Jenny had been given back to him.
Closing his eyes, Royce brushed a kiss against her smooth forehead. Thank you, he thought.
And in his heart, he could have sworn he heard a voice answer, You're welcome.”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

“How foolish to yearn to ask the very person who'd caused the pain to heal it”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

“Jennifer Merrick had stored all her tears inside her, and her pride and courage would never permit her to break down and shed them.”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

“Jennifer," he said, his voice sharp with dawning alarm, "where are you going?"

A moment later, Aunt Elinor looked down from the gallery above and cheerfully replied, "She is going to have your baby, your grace."

The serfs in the hall turned to exchange smiling glances, and one of them dashed off to spread the news to the scullions in the kitchen.

"Do not," Aunt Elinor warned in direst tones when Royce started up the stairs, "come up here. I am not inexperienced in these matters, and you will only be in the way. And do not worry," she added breezily, noting Royce's draining color. "The fact that Jenny's mother died in childbirth is nothing to be concerned about." Royce's tankard crashed to the stone floor.”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

“Royce Westmoreland stared at him with biting scorn. "I despise hypocrisy, particularly when it is coated with holiness."
"May I ask for a specific example?"
"Fat priests," Royce replied, "with fat purses, who lecture staving peasants on the dangers of gluttony and the merits of poverty.”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

“The amusement fled from Royce's face and with a groan he pulled her roughly against his chest, crushing her to him. "Jenny," he whispered hoarsely, burying his face in her fragrant hair. "Jenny, I love you."
She melted against him, molding her body to the rigid contours of his, offering her lips up for his fierce, devouring kiss, then she took his face between both her hands. Leaning back slightly against his arm, her melting blue eyes gazing deeply into his, his wife replied in a shaky voice, "I think, my lord, I love you more.”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

“Royce's eyes narrowed in discouragement at the thoght of having to sing to jenny. his deep bariton voice would surely bring every hound for miles to yap and nip at his heels.”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

“But he knew instinctively what he suggested was impossible. She'd been through so much, and held her tears back for so long, that Royce doubted that anything could force her to shed them.”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

“Sir Eustace was with Royce and Stefan looking over some maps when he was informed by the guard that the ladies were asking for him. "Is there no end to her arrogance!" Royce bit out, referring to Jenny. "She even sends her guards on errands, and what's more, they run to do her bidding." Checking his tirade, he said shortly, "I assume it was the blue-eyed one with the dirty face who sent you?"

Sir Lionel chuckled and shook his head. "I saw two clean faces, Royce, but the one who talked to me had greenish eyes, not blue."

"Ah, I see," Royce said sarcastically, "it wasn't Arrogance that sent you trotting away from your post, it was Beauty. What does she want?”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

“And in that unlikely moment, as she held his dagger poised high, ready to strike, Royce Westmoreland thought she was the most magnificent creature he'd ever beheld; a wild, beautiful, enraged angel of retribution, her chest rising and falling with fury as she courageously confronted an enemy who towered over her.”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

“It would have hurt no matter who took you the first time.”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

“Why is it,” Royce murmured, gazing into her intoxicating eyes, “that every time you surrender willingly, like this, you make me feel like a king who has conquered. Yet when I conquer you against your will, you make me feel like a defeated beggar?”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

“Whitney, My Love is the story of Clayton Westmoreland, the Ninth Duke of Claymore. Until You features Stephen Westmoreland’s”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

“heart she faced the wrenching truth: Impulsiveness and recklessness, her two greatest faults, had brought her to this dire end—the same two character flaws that had”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

“she’d only looked at him for a second before she’d walked out of the woods, Jenny had registered the odd light in his eyes and”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

“Sweeping her up into her arms, Jenny hugged her tightly. “Everybody”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

“Nay. I wanted only to be loved by those whom I love; to be looked upon and not found wanting.”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

“And so I invented a kingdom of dreams where I could accomplish great and daring deeds to make it happen.”
― Judith McNaught, quote from A Kingdom of Dreams

About the author

Popular quotes

“But I cannot forget that, at other times I have been deceived in sleep by similar illusions; and, attentively considering those cases, I perceive so clearly that there exist no certain marks by which the state of waking can ever be distinguished from sleep, that I feel greatly astonished; and in amazement I almost persuade myself that I am now dreaming.”
― René Descartes, quote from Meditations on First Philosophy

“I thought of Sammy Glick rocking in his cradle of hate, malnutrition, prejudice, suspicions, amorality, the anarchy of the poor; I thought of him as a mangy puppy in a dog-eat-dog world. I was modulating my hate for Sammy Glick from the personal to the societal. I no longer even hated Rivington Street but the idea of Rivington Street, all Rivington Streets of all nationalities allowed to pile up in cities like gigantic dung heaps smelling up the world, ambitions growing out of filth and crawling away like worms. I saw Sammy Glick on a battlefield where every soldier was his own cause, his own army and his own flag, and I realized that I had singled him out not because he had been born into the world anymore selfish, ruthless and cruel than anybody else, even though he had become all three, but because in the midst of a war that was selfish, ruthless and cruel Sammy was proving himself the fittest and the fiercest and the fastest.”
― Budd Schulberg, quote from What Makes Sammy Run?

“You have asked two questions, and I will answer them separately,” Gray said. “Trollope writes with precision and feeling about love and marriage. Yes, I can assure you of that. Now, the second question is rather different. Trollope, I believe, would take the view that it is the function of the preacher and the theologian, the philosopher and perhaps the poet, but emphatically not that of the novelist, to deal with what you call ‘the great mystery of our existence.’ I would tend to agree with him.”
― Colm Tóibín, quote from The Master

“Beauty loved him more than anything, her Beast boy, but, secretly, sometimes, she wished he would have remained a Beast.”
― Francesca Lia Block, quote from The Rose and the Beast: Fairy Tales Retold

“Everyone is going to annoy you somewhat. The trick is to find the person who only annoys you a little, and where what you love about them outweighs what you don’t love. They’ll never be perfect, but they’ll be perfect for you. The problem is that people think it has to be perfect all the time, and that’s not possible.”
― Sarah Lyons Fleming, quote from And After

Interesting books

About BookQuoters

BookQuoters is a community of passionate readers who enjoy sharing the most meaningful, memorable and interesting quotes from great books. As the world communicates more and more via texts, memes and sound bytes, short but profound quotes from books have become more relevant and important. For some of us a quote becomes a mantra, a goal or a philosophy by which we live. For all of us, quotes are a great way to remember a book and to carry with us the author’s best ideas.

We thoughtfully gather quotes from our favorite books, both classic and current, and choose the ones that are most thought-provoking. Each quote represents a book that is interesting, well written and has potential to enhance the reader’s life. We also accept submissions from our visitors and will select the quotes we feel are most appealing to the BookQuoters community.

Founded in 2023, BookQuoters has quickly become a large and vibrant community of people who share an affinity for books. Books are seen by some as a throwback to a previous world; conversely, gleaning the main ideas of a book via a quote or a quick summary is typical of the Information Age but is a habit disdained by some diehard readers. We feel that we have the best of both worlds at BookQuoters; we read books cover-to-cover but offer you some of the highlights. We hope you’ll join us.