“The great hall was shimmering in light, sun streaming from the open windows, and ablaze with colour, the walls decorated with embroidered hangings in rich shades of gold and crimson. New rushes had been strewn about, fragrant with lavender, sweet woodruff, and balm... the air was... perfumed with honeysuckle and violet, their seductive scents luring in from the gardens butterflies as blue as the summer sky.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“He could still remember how breathtakingly beautiful Eleanor was that day. He'd have been content to gaze into her eyes for hours, trying to decide if they were green with gold flecks or gold with green flecks. She had high, finely sculpted cheekbones, soft, flawless skin he'd burned to touch, and lustrous dark braids entwined with gold-threaded ribbons he yearned to unfasten; he'd have bartered his chances of salvation to bury his face in that glossy, perfumed hair, to wind it around his throat and see it spread out on his pillow. He'd watched, mesmerized, as a crystal raindrop trickled toward the sultry curve of her mouth and wanted nothing in his life so much, before or since, as he wanted her. ”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“She knew she'd wounded him when he'd least expected it, and her satisfaction lasted until the door had closed behind him. Once he was gone, it ebbed away along with her anger, leaving her with naught but the ashes and embers of a dying hearth fire.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“When does he ever think?" Richard straddled a chair and accepted a wind cup from Raoul. "If he were to sell his brain, he could claim it had never been used.", Chapter 7”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“We've schemed and fought and loved until we are so entangled in hearts and minds that there is no way to set us free. God help us both, Harry, for we will never be rid of each other. Not even death will do that.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“At least it was never dull, my darling. And you will be remembered long after we've all turned to dust. But so will I.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“Twilight was laying claim to the cité, and the sky was a deepening shade of lavender, spangled with stars and fleecy clouds the colour of plums.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“He’d passed the longest night of his life locked in mortal combat with his ghosts, calling up and then disavowing twenty years of memories. He would banish that bitch from his heart if it meant cutting her out with his own dagger. And when at last he allowed himself to grieve, he did so silently and unwillingly, his tears hidden by the darkness, his rage congealing into a core of ice.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“Geoffrey looked startled to see both his great-uncles bearing down upon him with such haste; he hadn’t realized men their age could move so fast.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“All he wanted was enough time to consider all his options without being dragged into his household’s petty squabbles or being nagged by his wife about that damnable pilgrimage. Was that so much to ask?
Apparently so, for he’d yet to find a peaceful moment at Caen, not with Marguerite sulking and Aimar lurking and Will acting put-upon and Geoff wanting to lay plans and Richard strutting around as if he were the incarnation of Roland and poor Tilda grieving over Maman’s absence and his father refusing to heed any voice but his own.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“This was the moment he most loved about tourneying, that first glorious sortie with banners streaming, trumpets blaring, and the earth atremble with pounding hooves as hundreds of knights came together in a spectacular clash of sound and fury.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“John, watching in dismay, saw his great chance slipping through his fingers, and he swung around to demand of his father, “Papa, does this mean Richard has bested you and Aquitaine is lost?” Eleanor winced, Geoffrey rolled his eyes, and Henry gave his youngest a look John had never gotten from him before. “My life would have been much more peaceful if I’d had only daughters,” he snapped. “As for Aquitaine, it is yours if you can take it.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“Richard grinned, very pleased with himself for having found a way to honor his mother, thwart his father, and serve God, while having a grand adventure at the same time.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“...for he of all men knew how dangerously stubborn Henry Fitz Empress could be.
There were faint bloodstains upon the tiles in Canterbury Cathedral testifying to that.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“Hell and furies!" Eleanor had begun to pace, her skirts swirling about her ankles. "What was he thinking?"
"When does he ever think?" Richard straddled a chair and accepted a wine cup from Raoul. "If he were to sell his brain, he could claim it had never been used.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“It puzzled Maud that her male relatives could not see this. Was it that men could not believe a woman might share their ambitions, their need for power? Eleanor saw herself as more than Henry’s queen, mother of his children. First and foremost, she was Duchess of Aquitaine, never doubting that she could have ruled as well as any man and better than most.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“I am not going to let him win, Guillaume. Not this time. I could not keep him from making my mother pay the price for our failed rebellion. Fifteen years she has been his prisoner, fifteen years! And she is his prisoner, for all that she no longer wants for a queen’s comforts. I have had to submit to his demands and subject myself to his whims and endure the indignity of having him brandish the crown before me as he would tease a dog with a bone. But no more. I will not let him rob me of my birthright, and I will not let him keep me from honoring my vow to defend the Holy Land. I do think he is behind that very opportune rebellion in my duchy, and I would not put it past him to be conniving with the Count of Toulouse, either. And if by chance he did not, it is only because he did not think of it. No, a reckoning is long overdue, and we will have it at Bonsmoulins.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“To call it a “setback” is like calling the Expulsion from Eden a minor misunderstanding.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“Apparently too much candour can become tedious, or so Lady Emma tells me.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“Brother Euddogwy did not know how to respond to that, for only the Angevins would see a rebellion as an opportunity for brotherly bonding.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“Between the two of us, we’ve got a family tree rooted in Hell!”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“Yes, there were good memories, too, thirty-seven years of good and bad. Quarrels and reconciliations. Eight cradles and too many gravestones and Rosamund Clifford and power that rivalled Caesar’s, an empire that stretched from the Scots border to the Mediterranean Sea.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“Get some sleep. Our troubles will still be there on the morrow”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“The scene in the great hall was a raucous one, a cheerful mélange of knights, minstrels, servants, disreputable-looking women, and dogs, who were dicing, performing bawdy songs, responding to cries for wine, laughing shrilly, and barking.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“It is not easy to be stranded between two worlds, the sad truth is that we can never feel completely comfortable in either world”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“as was his way, once he acknowledged the problem, he set about finding a means to resolve it”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“As wretched as she was, she wanted Harry to be miserable, too. And yet, she was aware of an underlying sense of sadness. Theirs may have been the first war in which there were no winners, only losers.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“Hal and Richard show all the good will of Cain and Abel.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“Here I was, rushing off to save my little brother from pirates, only to find that he fancies being a pirate himself!”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
“A pity you were not born a woman in this life, Little King of Lesser Land, for you seek only to please and to be admired by all.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Devil's Brood
Sharon Kay Penman
Born place: in New York, The United States
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“There's really no honor in proving that you can carry the entire load on your own shoulders. And...it's lonely”
― Amanda Palmer, quote from The Art of Asking; or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Let People Help
“I volunteer,” Clay said. “I’m a world champion at sitting on my friends.”
― Tui T. Sutherland, quote from The Hidden Kingdom
“I was becoming aware that a good life was not some Shangri-La waiting to be stumbled upon. One constructed it from the materials at hand.”
― quote from Why We Make Things and Why It Matters: The Education of a Craftsman
“How to Meditate 1. Sit comfortably, with your spine erect, either in a chair or cross-legged on a cushion. 2. Close your eyes, take a few deep breaths, and feel the points of contact between your body and the chair or the floor. Notice the sensations associated with sitting—feelings of pressure, warmth, tingling, vibration, etc. 3. Gradually become aware of the process of breathing. Pay attention to wherever you feel the breath most distinctly—either at your nostrils or in the rising and falling of your abdomen. 4. Allow your attention to rest in the mere sensation of breathing. (You don’t have to control your breath. Just let it come and go naturally.) 5. Every time your mind wanders in thought, gently return it to the breath. 6. As you focus on the process of breathing, you will also perceive sounds, bodily sensations, or emotions. Simply observe these phenomena as they appear in consciousness and then return to the breath. 7. The moment you notice that you have been lost in thought, observe the present thought itself as an object of consciousness. Then return your attention to the breath—or to any sounds or sensations arising in the next moment. 8. Continue in this way until you can merely witness all objects of consciousness—sights, sounds, sensations, emotions, even thoughts themselves—as they arise, change, and pass away.”
― Sam Harris, quote from Waking Up: A Guide to Spirituality Without Religion
“Serenity, we did not mean to offend you. We thought only to help.”
Maia set his cup down too hard, slopping tea into the saucer, his entire body hot with shame. “We apologize,” he said. “We spoke ungraciously and out of ill temper which we should not have inflicted on you. We should not have disparaged your service, for which we are so truly grateful. We are sorry.”
“Serenity,” Csevet said uncomfortably, “you should not speak so to us.” “
Why not?”
Csevet opened his mouth and closed it again. Then, deliberately, he set down his cup, stood up, and with infinite grace prostrated himself beside the table. Isheian watched him with alarm. Csevet stood up again, unruffled and perfect, and said, “The Emperor of the Elflands does not apologize to his secretary. And yet, we thank you for doing that which the emperor does not.” He smiled, a warm beautiful smile that made his face suddenly, momentarily alive, and sat down again. “Serenity.”
― Katherine Addison, quote from The Goblin Emperor
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