Quotes from Falls the Shadow

Sharon Kay Penman ·  580 pages

Rating: (8K votes)


“Men kill for many reasons, they steal but for one-greed.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Falls the Shadow


“In my life, I've been both the besieged and the besieged, and I know damned well which I prefer!”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Falls the Shadow


“Troubles may ofttimes be so dire that they cannot get better. But they are never so dire that they still cannot get worse.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Falls the Shadow


“His was a lonely, unorthodox conviction that war was man's ultimate failure.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Falls the Shadow


“He was too astute a politician, too ambitious a Prince, to confuse friendship with statecraft.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Falls the Shadow



“But in all honesty, I do not find it so peculiar a notion, that a Welshman should rule Wales.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Falls the Shadow


“Simon said nothing, thinking of all the good men who’d died because this inept, faithless fool had been born a King’s son.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Falls the Shadow


“You must try to understand, my dearest one. It was not treason, was but a dream bred before its time, that the King should not be accountable only to God. No mortal man ought to be entrusted with power such as that, for any king’s son may be born a fool.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Falls the Shadow


“for each age interprets the past in the light of its own biases.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Falls the Shadow


“An intimate enemy, death, capricious and cruel, ultimately invincible.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Falls the Shadow



“What is a thing worth, if it comes with no risk?”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Falls the Shadow


“I asked Simon if he’d ever feared that all our struggles, all our suffering might be in vain. Not a priest’s question, and he shamed me by his answer, by the shining certainty of his faith. He said no, my lady, and then he told me of a cave he’d found whilst in the Holy Land. It was said to have magical powers; a man could shout and long after it had died away, it echoed back as if from the very bowels of the earth. Simon had so marveled at it that he’d never forgotten it. And that night in Hereford Castle, he said that whilst it might seem as if we were but shouting into the wind, our echoes, too, would come back in time, echoes to hearten the godly and haunt kings. He laughed then, but he believed it, my lady, and I found I believed, too.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Falls the Shadow


“He could not change his nature, could not help being cautious, deliberate, introspective, not traits to be scorned by any means, but traits that seemed dull, bland—even to him—when compared with Davydd’s hell-for-leather dazzle.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Falls the Shadow


“That may be infidel wisdom, but it is wisdom all the same.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Falls the Shadow


“Henry did not lack for physical courage; his was a moral cowardice.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Falls the Shadow



“A man just realizing the fatal extent of his own folly was not likely to be all that rational.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Falls the Shadow


“Mayhap not, but a king ought to be far-sighted enough to realize that if reforms are inevitable, better he be the one to carry them out.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Falls the Shadow


“But such was her faith in Simon that it colored her faith in God; unable to conceive of defeat, she never doubted that the Lord, too, willed Simon to win, and falling asleep in Simon’s arms, she did not dread the morrow, so secure was she in the strength of her yesterdays.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Falls the Shadow


“If, like the Romans, he must make a desert and call it peace, so be it.”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Falls the Shadow


“Edward Plantagenet is no man to hold cheaply. Far better to take him at his own inflated estimation!”
― Sharon Kay Penman, quote from Falls the Shadow



About the author

Sharon Kay Penman
Born place: in New York, The United States
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Matter never makes jokes: it is always full of the tragically serious. Who dares to think that you can play with matter, that you can shape it for a joke, that the joke will not be built in, will not eat into it like fate, like destiny? Can you imagine the pain, the dull imprisoned suffering, hewn into the matter of that dummy which does not know why it must be what it is, why it must remain in that forcibly imposed form which is no more than a parody? Do you understand the power of form, of expression, of pretense, the arbitrary tyranny imposed on a helpless block, and ruling it like its own, tyrannical, despotic soul?”
― Bruno Schulz, quote from The Street of Crocodiles


“...we are trying, in a world of increasing complexity, to create a simpler and more understandable place for ourselves. No longer do we grow up in large families. We feel increasingly estranged, replaceable, and ephemeral. Genealogy gives us a feeling of immortality. The individual dies; the family lives on.”
― Oliver Pötzsch, quote from The Hangman's Daughter


“Jimmy Fargo’s birthday party. All the other guys got to take home goldfish in little plastic bags. I won him because I guessed there were three hundred and forty-eight jelly beans in Mrs. Fargo’s jar. Really,”
― Judy Blume, quote from Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing


“Swimbos,” Rök said with an aggrieved shrug. Swimbos—Rök’s play on “She Who Must Be Obeyed”. “Can I help it?”

“Yeah, you can, Rök.” Smoke demons formed temporary pacts every time they had intercourse. Pacts allowed one to summon a demon at will. “Give celibacy a chance.”

“Anything else you’d like me to do? Maybe something possible.”
― Kresley Cole, quote from Dark Desires After Dusk


“He was becoming intimate with her mind, with her body, like a lover, though he had not yet shared her body or mind in the way he wanted. Darius”
― Christine Feehan, quote from Dark Fire


Interesting books

The Chalice and the Blade: Our History, Our Future (Updated With a New Epilogue)
(2.6K)
The Chalice and the...
by Riane Eisler
Sex God: Exploring the Endless Connections Between Sexuality and Spirituality
(9.9K)
Sex God: Exploring t...
by Rob Bell
Just Breathe
(10.8K)
Just Breathe
by Susan Wiggs
Very Good, Jeeves!
(7.8K)
Very Good, Jeeves!
by P.G. Wodehouse
Rabbit Redux
(12.3K)
Rabbit Redux
by John Updike
When the Emperor Was Divine
(14.4K)
When the Emperor Was...
by Julie Otsuka

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.