Quotes from The Six Wives of Henry VIII

Alison Weir ·  643 pages

Rating: (53.1K votes)


“Katherine of Aragon was a staunch but misguided woman of principle; Anne Boleyn an ambitious adventuress with a penchant for vengeance; Jane Seymour a strong-minded matriarch in the making; Anne of Cleves a good-humoured woman who jumped at the chance of independence; Katherine Howard an empty-headed wanton; and Katherine Parr a godly matron who was nevertheless all too human when it came to a handsome rogue.”
― Alison Weir, quote from The Six Wives of Henry VIII


“Since arriving in England, Katherine had come to know a freedom she had never dreamed of in Spain, where young women were kept in seclusion and forced to live almost like cloistered nuns. They wore clothes that camouflaged their bodies and veiled their faces in public. Etiquette at the Spanish court was rigid, and even smiling was frowned upon. But in England, unmarried women enjoyed much more freedom: their gowns were designed to attract, and when they were introduced to gentlemen they kissed them full upon the lips in greeting. They sang and danced when they pleased, went out in public as the fancy took them, and laughed when they felt merry.”
― Alison Weir, quote from The Six Wives of Henry VIII


“Only during courtship might a woman briefly gain the upper hand, as both Anne Boleyn and Jane Seymour did, but woe betide her if she did not quickly learn to conform once the wedding-ring was on her finger. The”
― Alison Weir, quote from The Six Wives of Henry VIII


“Men, however, were encouraged to sow their wild oats, but a woman who did so became a social outcast and ruined her chances of making a good marriage.”
― Alison Weir, quote from The Six Wives of Henry VIII


“Who does not tremble when he considers how to deal with his wife?’ asked Henry VIII in his treatise A Defence of the Seven Sacraments; ‘for not only is he bound to love her, but so to live with her that he may return her to God pure and without stain, when God who gave shall demand His own again.’ Marriage”
― Alison Weir, quote from The Six Wives of Henry VIII



“a royal bride could come to enjoy considerable power and influence, as did both Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. Yet such status and power emanated solely from her husband. She enjoyed no freedoms but those he permitted her. Without him, she was nothing. Queens”
― Alison Weir, quote from The Six Wives of Henry VIII


About the author

Alison Weir
Born place: in London, The United Kingdom
Born date January 1, 1951
See more on GoodReads

Popular quotes

“Seanie's car and I have honestly and openly discussed the matter, and we both enthusiastically granted our consent," I said. "The only thing is, I'm not really sure how to turn her on."
Annie shook her head and groaned.”
― Andrew Smith, quote from Winger


“I bet his mother was a wyvern.
-Scamp”
― Tamora Pierce, quote from The Realms of the Gods


“Unrequited love is all right in books and things, but in real life, it completely sucks”
― Meg Cabot, quote from Haunted


“All I feel is the kiss. All I am is Raffe’s girl.”
― Susan Ee, quote from End of Days


“You were right to end it with us,” I said harshly. “And I’m not willing to do it again.”

He stared at me, shocked. My words were a lie, of course. Part of me wanted to try again, to endure anything to be with him. But I couldn’t stop thinking about Maddie. Couldn’t stop thinking about the hurt she would go through. It was ironic, really. Last time, he’d gone out of his way to hurt me purposely because it was for the greater good. Now I was doing the same for both of them, saving her from heartache and him from more grief with me. We were in an endless cycle.

“You can’t mean that. I know you can’t.” His face was a mixture of incredulity and pain.

I shook my head. “I do. You and me are a disaster. What we did during this stasis...it was wrong. It was disgraceful. Immoral. We betrayed someone who loves both of us, who wishes nothing but the best for us. How could we do that? What kind of precedent is that? How could we expect to have a solid relationship that was built on that sort of sordid foundation? One that was built on lies and deceit?” Saying those words hurt. It was tarnishing the beauty of these precious few days we had, but I needed to make my case.

Seth was silent for several moments as he assessed me. “You’re serious.”

“Yes.” I was a good liar, good enough that the person who loved me most couldn’t tell. “Go back to her, Seth. Go back to her and make it up to her.”

“Georgina...” I could see it, see it hitting him. The full weight of betraying Maddie was sinking in. His nature couldn’t ignore the wrong he’d done. It was part of his good character, the character that had gone back to save Dante, the character that was going to make him leave me. Again. Hesitantly, he extended his hand to me. I took it, and he pulled me into an embrace. “I will always love you.”

My heart was going to burst. How many times, I wondered, could I endure this kind of agony? “No, you won’t,” I said. “You’ll move on. So will I.”

Seth left not long after that. Staring at the door, I replayed my own words. You’ll move on. So will I. In spite of how much he loved me, how much he was willing to risk, I truly felt he’d go back to Maddie, that he’d believe what I said. I’d driven home the guilt, made it trump his love for me.

You’ll move on. So will I.

The unfortunate part about being a good liar, however, was that while I could get other people to believe my words, I didn’t believe them myself.”
― Richelle Mead, quote from Succubus Heat


Interesting books

Only Human
(41)
Only Human
by J.D. Estrada
Release
(6.8K)
Release
by Patrick Ness
The Peripheral
(13.2K)
The Peripheral
by William Gibson
The Fellowship of the Ring: The Lord of the Rings Part One
(1.9M)
The Fellowship of th...
by J.R.R. Tolkien
Invisible
(20.7K)
Invisible
by James Patterson
The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel; Clockwork Prince; Clockwork Princess
(12.2K)
The Infernal Devices...
by Cassandra Clare

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.