Boleyn Quotes & Sayings

I was born to be your rival,' she [Anne] said simply. 'And you mine. We're sisters, aren't we? — Philippa Gregory

Anne Boleyn was a warrior forced to use the only tools available to a woman in her position at that time. She was bold and ambitious, and had she had a son, history would have been very different. — Lydia Leonard

My new world is etched in diamonds and sealed in gold, drowning in pretension. — Dawn Ius

When it's done, it's done. And no one will know until it's done. — Philippa Gregory

She's a Boleyn and a Howard,"I said frankly."Underneath the great name, we 're all bitches on heat. — Philippa Gregory

The man behind the counter at the donut store had been somewhat less than courteous ever since I had prematurely tried to hypnotize him during my first month of practice. Now as I re-entered the donut store he fixed me with a chilly glare. I sauntered up to the counter, then I threw upon him my hypnotizingest glare. "You are getting sleep," I told him. "No, you are getting sleepy," he retorted, his hypnotic eyes boring into mine. The son-of-a-bitch had been studying hypnotism too! "You are a young Georage Washington, and you've been chopping down the cherry tree," I asserted, and he became the boy President. "I cannot tell a lie," he piped in a childish voice. But it didn't last, and he shook my control free. "You are Anne Boleyn," he said, and it was true! "Don't cut off my head!" I begged... — Michael Kupperman

When I was 14 and living in London, I'd go around Hampton Court Palace with its marvelous atmosphere, through the gateway where Ann Boleyn walked, the haunted gallery down which Katherine Howard ran. It all set me going. It all started from there. — Jean Plaidy

O Lord have mercy on me, to God I commend my soul. — Anne Boleyn

The Light in the Labyrinth is a beautifully written book, a gem. I savoured every word; words written with so much 'colour'. Even though I know the story of Queen Anne Boleyn, Dunn's perspective on her last days is missing in so many other books of the genre. Dunn gives grace to the history and an honest, and very compassionate look at Anne's last days. I cried in the end, shedding tears for the young Kate, Anne and her little Bess. I have not yet read a Tudor book that has moved me to tears, as this wonderful journey does. Dunn's dedication and research shines through in this unforgettable book, a book not just for young readers, but also for all." - Lara Salzano, avid Tudor reader. — Wendy J. Dunn

For a fair maid of England hath told me
That the crows are departed the Tower.
So I'll seek for my bailiwick elsewhere,
Sniffing out some new dungheap of power. — Paul Christensen

In one sphere above all others, Anne Boleyn still had the power to influence him, and that was in the case of church reform. Anne was a passionate and sincere evangelical, the owner of a library of controversial reformist literature, and she was sympathetic to radical and even Lutheran ideas. — Alison Weir

From a private gentlewoman you have made me first a marchioness, then a queen; and, as you can raise me no higher in the world, you are now sending me to be a saint in Heaven. — Anne Boleyn

For I chase but one hind, he says, one strange deer timid and wild, and she leads me off the paths that other men have trod, and by myself into the depths of the wood. — Hilary Mantel

I took piano lessons when I was real little. And you know ... I hated it.
But by the time I was in junior high, I had some kind of knowledge of the keyboards. In my very early years I played keyboards and bass. — Anne Boleyn

If it ever lay in my power, I will work the Cardinal as much displeasure as he has done to me. — Anne Boleyn

To Jesus Christ I commend my soul; Lord Jesus, receive my soul. — Anne Boleyn

Anne Boleyn is certainly the most exciting character I have played on stage. — Lydia Leonard

While the portrait was originally owned by the Howards, as the earls of Arundel, it is unlikely that this family would have retained a portrait of their notorious ancestress for in the wake of her execution, as with Anne Boleyn, they hastily dissociated themselves from Katherine and almost certainly destroyed any images of the queen which they had once owned. — Conor Byrne

Seduce me. Write letters to me. And poems, I love poems. Ravish me with your words. Seduce me. — Anne Boleyn

She steeled her spine. "Like Boleyn to the chopping block."
Anna smirked. "Queen of England, are we?"
Mara shrugged. "Something to aspire to. — Sarah MacLean

The king has been very good to me. He promoted me from a simple maid to be a marchioness. Then he raised me to be a queen. Now he will raise me to be a martyr. — Anne Boleyn

I remembered riding in the barge with Queen Katherine and how everyone had pulled off their hats as we went by and the women curtsied, and the children kissed their hands and waved. There had been a trust that the king was wise and strong and that the queen was beautiful and good and that nothing could go wrong. But Anne and the Boleyn ambition had opened a great crack in that unity and now everyone could see into the void. They could see now that the king was no better than some paltry little mayor of a fat little town, who wanted nothing more than to feather his own nest, and that he was married to a woman who knew desire, ambition and greed and longed for satisfaction. If — Philippa Gregory

Remember me when you do pray that hope doth lead from day to day. — Anne Boleyn

I looked over to Anne. She was untying her mask and watching me with a long calculating look, the Boleyn look, the Howard look that says: what has happened here, and how may I turn it to my advantage? It was as if under her golden mask was another beautiful mask of skin, and only beneath that was the real woman. — Philippa Gregory

I was a pretty lousy bass player. But the band I was in couldn't find a bass player in our small town and it was more important to have a bass than keyboards, so that's what I did. — Anne Boleyn

In my small town, nothing really good happened too often and I thought, 'What am I doing here? I'm wasting my life.' — Anne Boleyn

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

The king greeted the document (the Collectanea) not so much as a drowning man greets a straw but as he might a rescue party from outer space. — Eric Ives

My bright and merry star,
Things I would tell our child if I could-

1. Love matters.
2. So does friendship.
3. Everyone makes mistakes, including you. Be generous with others' errors, and honest about your own.
4.Your mother is the truest, kindest, sweetest soul I've ever know. I love her. And I love you-for your own sake, not solely for your mother's.
Dominic
Only then did she break. sinking to the floor, covering her head with her arms, Minuette huddled and wept. — Laura Anderson

Your trouble, William, is that you have no ambition. You don't see that there is in life only ever one goal.' 'And what is that?'
More', George said simply. 'Just more of anything. More of everything. — Philippa Gregory

There's a part of my heart that forever has Anne Boleyn written on it, who I played in 'The Tudors.' — Natalie Dormer

The whore or the saint: these seemed to be the prototypes set up by the Church's historic misogyny. But was there no alternative model to follow?

Yes, for Anne had seen for herself that it was possible to be an independent thinker, set free from the pattern of sinful Eve or patient Griselda. She had been in the company of clever, strong-willed women like the Regent Margaret of Austria and Margaret of Navarre. The influence of evangelism had enabled women of character to take an alternative path, one that offered Anne Boleyn a different future. — Joanna Denny

What's your family?" he demanded through clenched teeth.
" Boleyn."
" What's your kin?"
"Howard's."
"What's your home?"
"Hever and Rochford."
"What's your kingdom?"
"England."
"Who's your king?"
"Henry."
"Then serve them. In that order. Did I say the Spanish queen once in that list?"
"No."
"Remember it. — Philippa Gregory

Her unusual dark hair and sultry eyes made her stand out--- Anne Boleyn was Tudor England's Angelina Jolie amid a sea of Reese Witherspoons. — Kris Waldherr

Because she is my sister, and therefore one-half of me. — Philippa Gregory

For poor taste in husbands, her judgment rivaled Anne Boleyn's. — Meredith Duran

Gina sat with the extremely quiet Tanberk on one side and Rebecca — Darcie Boleyn

Jane," I said quietly.
She opened her eyes, she had been far away in prayer.
"Yes, Mary? Forgive me, I was praying."
"If you go on flirting with the king with those sickly little smiles, one of us Boleyns is going to scratch your eyes out. — Philippa Gregory

Famously, Anne Boleyn was not a beauty: she was more about quirkiness and an innate sensuality, and there are a lot of references to her eyes. Which sends out a great message for women, because life is not about the aesthetic all the time. — Natalie Dormer

Before anything else I was a woman who was capable of passion and who had a great need and a great desire for love. — Philippa Gregory

The first Elizabeth film was an absolute travesty historically. It really was sloppy. Things like 'The Other Boleyn Girl' and 'The Tudors,' people's perception is distorted because of these. It matters to me as a historian, because I spend my life trying to get it right. — Alison Weir

I feel very strongly that history has mostly been written by men, and even when it is not prejudiced against women it is dominated by a male perspective and male morality. Some of my heroines have been considered simply unimportant - like Mary Boleyn or Katherine Howard - and some of them have been stereotyped - like Anne of Cleves and Katherine of Aragon. I don't start with a determination of putting the record straight, but when I read terribly prejudiced misjudgments of women I cannot help but consider what they would really have been like - and writing them back into the history. — Philippa Gregory

People ask me if I think Anne Boleyn was a feminist ... but she wasn't striking out on behalf of women, and she wasn't particularly keen on them. — Lydia Leonard

Why doesn't anyone tell you we all wind up married to Henry the VIII?...
...My dear Anne Boleyn,...the only way a woman can avoid waking up next to Henry is to model herself after his daughter Elizabeth and sleep next to no one at all. — Judith Claire Mitchell

Anne Boleyn is an intriguing character. She seems to appeal to modern-day women in a very potent way. Because she was such an independently opinionated and spirited young woman, which at the time was unheard of. — Natalie Dormer

Is that it?" he demanded, in sudden rage. "Is that all that matters? Not that I am in love and tumbled like a fool into sin. Not that I can never be happy, married to a snake and in love with a heartbreaker, but only, only, that Mistress Anne Boleyn's reputation must be without blemish." At once she flew at him, her hands spread like claws, and he caught her wrists before she could rake his face. "Look at me!" she hissed. "Didn't I give up my only love, didn't I break my heart? Didn't you tell me then that it was worth the price?" He held her away but she was unstoppable. "Look at Mary! Didn't we take her from her husband and me from mine? And now you have to give up someone too. You have to lose the great love of your life, as I have lost mine, as Mary lost hers. Don't whimper to me about heartbreak, you murdered my love and we buried it together and now it is gone." George — Philippa Gregory

O Death, rock me asleep, bring me to quiet rest, let pass my weary guiltless ghost out of my careful breast. — Anne Boleyn

And then the sword came down like a flash of lightning, and then her head was off her body and the long rivalry between me and the other Boleyn girl was over. — Philippa Gregory

He turns to the painting. "I fear Mark was right."
"Who is Mark?"
"A silly little boy who runs after George Boleyn. I once heard him say I looked like a murderer."
Gregory says, "Did you not know? — Hilary Mantel

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

Going out on the road as a 14- or 15-year old and playing clubs with 20-year old guys was just not acceptable. — Anne Boleyn

There are women that men marry and there are women that men don't," Anne pronouned. "And you are the sort of mistress a man doesn't bother to marry. Sons or no sons."
"Yes," Mary said. "I expect your right. But there clearly is a third sort and that is the woman that men neither marry or take as their mistress. Woman that go home ... alone for Xmas. And thats seems to be you my dear sister. Good day. — Philippa Gregory

I am sorry for you. And I am sorry for me. When you are sent back to me, perhaps a month from now, perhaps a year, I will try to remember this day, and you looking like a child, a little lost among all these clothes. I will try to remember that you were innocent of any plotting; that today at least, you were more a girl than a Boleyn. — Philippa Gregory

When I was first at court and he was the young husband of a beautiful wife, he was a golden king. They called him the handsomest prince in Christendom, and that was not flattery. Mary Boleyn was in love with him, Anne was in love with him, I was in love with him. There was not one girl at court, nor one girl in the country, who could resist him. Then he turned against his wife, Queen Katherine, a good woman, and Anne taught him how to be cruel. — Philippa Gregory

grudge who grudge — Anne Boleyn

The past is a reality that exists just beyond our reach. — Joanna Denny

In the first play, the crisis is Thomas More. In the second it's Anne Boleyn. In the third book, and the third play, it's crisis every day, an overlapping series of only just negotiable horrors. It's climbing and climbing. Then a sudden abrupt fall - within days. — Hilary Mantel

Anne Boleyn isn't a sympathetic character, but I like that she isn't a people pleaser. She's ambitious and manipulative, but she's honest. I'm biased, but I don't think a woman who has said 'no' to the King of England for six years would jump into bed with four of his best friends. She was a slick political mind. — Lydia Leonard

I had meant my promise to George. I had said that I was, before anything else, a Boleyn and a Howard through and through; but now, sitting in th shadowy room, looking out over the gray slates of the city, and up at the dark clouds leaning on the roof of Westminster Palace, I suddenly realized that George was wrong, and that my family was wrong, and that I had been wrong
for all my life. I was not a Howard before anything else. Before anything else I was a woman who was capable of passion and who had a great need and a great desire for love, I didn't want the rewards for which Anne had surrendered her youth. I didn' want the arid glamour of George's life, I wanted the heat and the sweat and the passion of a man that I could love and trust. And I wanted to give myself to him: not for advantage, but for desire. — Philippa Gregory

Good Christian people, I am come hither to die, for according to the law, and by the law I am judged to die, and therefore I will speak nothing against it. I am come hither to accuse no man, nor to speak anything of that, whereof I am accused and condemned to die. — Anne Boleyn

But Anne, do you love him?" I asked curiously.
The curve of her hood hid all but the corner of her smile. "I am a fool to own it, but I am in a fever for his touch. — Philippa Gregory

She was a kinswoman of the queen, a member of the most powerful family in England. A Boleyn. — V.E. Lynne

If any person should meddle with my cause, I require them to judge the best'. — Anne Boleyn

Love overcame reason...I had rather beg my bread with him than to be the greatest queen christened. — Carolyn Meyer

I didn't care whether or not it was acceptable to mainstream society to be in a rock band. This is what I wanted to do. — Anne Boleyn

If it means something, take it to heart. If it means nothing, it's nothing. Let it go. — Philippa Gregory

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

The audience roared and applauded again. A rush of actors exited the stage and filled the space around her. Shakespeare had already slipped away. She could see Daniel on the opposite wing of the stage.He towered over the other actors,regal and impossibly gorgeous.
It was her cue to walk onstage. This was the start of the party scene at Lord Wolsey's estate, where the king-Daniel-would perform an elaborate masque before taking Anne Boleyn's hand for the first time. They were supposed to dance and fall heavily in love.It was supposed to be the very beginning of a romance that changed everything.
The beginning.
But for Daniel,it wasn't the beginning at all.
For Lucinda,however, and for the character she was playing-it was love at first sight. Laying eyes on Daniel had felt like the first real thing ever to happen to Lucinda,just as it had felt for Luce at Sword & Cross. Her whole world had suddenly meant something in a way it never had before. — Lauren Kate

She smiled an empty bitter smile that did not reach her eyes, 'Do you think it can be worse than this? I cannot be charged with treason, I am the Queen of England, I am England. I cannot be divorced, I am the wife of the King. He has run mad this spring and he will recover by autumn. And all I have to do is get through this summer.'
'The Boleyn summer,' I said. — Philippa Gregory

The Prince shall think you the most beautiful lady he's ever seen."
Alex replied wryly, "Let's hope that's not the case, Eliza. History teaches us that things never end well when royalty set their eyes on 'the most beautiful
lady' they've ever seen. Have a care; if you perform your tasks too well, I could be haunting the Tower of London without a head, alongside Anne Boleyn. — Sarah MacLean

And thus I take my leave of the world and of you all, and I heartily desire you all to pray for me. — Anne Boleyn

I had a radio show at the local college and I got kicked off the air and banished forever for playing music from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, Alice Cooper, and David Bowie because (quote-unquote) "They were gay." So, things have changed quite a bit. — Anne Boleyn

A decade of self-aggrandisement, since his daughter flashed her cunny at the king, has made Boleyn rich and settled and confident. — Hilary Mantel

Ann Boleyn...a Renaissance Audrey Hepburn in a little black dress. — JoAnn Spears

I think you underestimate how closely I studied the life of Anne Boleyn. Don't be fooled by my Byzantine-loving exterior. — Dahlia Adler

Jane would be the next queen and her children, when she had them, would be the next princes or princesses. Or she might wait, as the other queens had waited, every month, desperate to know that she had conceived, knowing each month that it did not happen that Henry's love wore a little thinner, that his patience grew a little shorter. Or Anne's curse of death in childbed, and death to her son, might come true. I did not envy Jane Seymour. I had seen two queens married to King Henry and neither of them had much joy of it. — Philippa Gregory

Just a little off the top!"- A. Boleyn — Robert Lynn Asprin

Katherine of Aragon was speaking out for the women of the country, for the good wives who should not be put aside just because their husbands had taken a fancy to another, for the women who walked the hard road between kitchen, bedroom, church and childbirth. For the women who deserved more than their husband's whim. — Philippa Gregory

For I am in love. For the first time in my life, utterly and completely, I have fallen in love, and I can not believe it myself. — Philippa Gregory

He is not a man wedded to action, Boleyn, but rather a man who stands by, smirking and stroking his beard; he thinks he looks enigmatic, but instead he looks as if he's pleasuring himself. — Hilary Mantel

The executioner is, I believe, very expert; and my neck is very slender — Anne Boleyn

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

My parents were very old school, as were my grandparents who went through the Great Depression and were a big influence on my life. So for them it was very important for me to have a college education and to pursue a normal job that would give me benefits and things like that.
So they were very, very much opposed to me being a musician. They were all pretty horrified. — Anne Boleyn