Penman Quotes & Sayings

Richard forced him from his sickbed, broke his power, his pride. But you, John, you broke his heart. I truly wonder which be the greater sin. — Sharon Kay Penman

Get some sleep. Our troubles will still be there on the morrow — Sharon Kay Penman

The art of governing, Dickon, is that of making use of talent wherever you do find it. Trust is too rare an attribute to make it your prime prerequisite for holding office. If I relied only upon those I truly do trust, we'd have a council of empty chairs! — Sharon Kay Penman

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

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

When you share love, you defeat hate. — Andrew Penman

For every wound, the ointment of time. — Sharon Kay Penman

Statecraft and kingship were not for the faint of heart — Sharon Kay Penman

Faith is 10% talk and 90% work. — The Prolific Penman

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

During the day, memories could be held at bay, but at night, dreams became the devil's own accomplices. — Sharon Kay Penman

back all he'd been — Sharon Kay Penman

He believed that his superior intellect mattered more than his physical defects and saw no reason why he must defer to these fortunate young men with handsome faces and healthy bodies and empty heads. — Sharon Kay Penman

She might be that most unfortunate of women, a barren queen, — Sharon Kay Penman

It usually takes me about three years to research and write one of my historical sagas; this is one reason why I take medieval mystery breaks, for they can be completed in only a year. — Sharon Kay Penman

Love is an image that we can recreate everyday. — The Prolific Penman

Barbed banter was the coin of their realm and heartfelt admissions of affection were rejected out of hand as counterfeit. — Sharon Kay Penman

More than men had died at Lincoln. It seemed to Stephen that reality was a casualty, too, for nothing made sense anymore. What was he doing here in the solar of Lincoln Castle, bleeding all over the Earl of Chester's wife? — Sharon Kay Penman

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

Don't say it do it, Don't act it out prove it, Don't just speak it make me believe it. — The Prolific Penman

Soldiers have many vices, but vanity is not amongst them. How could it be? What man is going to worry about his hair when he might lose his head? — Sharon Kay Penman

Eleanor had followed Richard, marveling, as always, at the male inability to speak the language of the heart. "One day I hope to understand why men see sentiment as the ultimate enemy," she said dryly, "but I'll not be holding my breath until it happens. — Sharon Kay Penman

Outside, the sky was clear, stars gleaming in its ebony vastness like celestial fireflies. It was bitterly cold, and Hywel's every breath trailed after him in pale puffs of smoke. The glazed snow crackled underfoot as he started towards the great hall. — Sharon Kay Penman

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

When I moved to Wales more than twenty years ago and began to research 'Here Be Dragons,' I was fascinated from the first by the Welsh medieval laws, by the discovery that women enjoyed a greater status in Wales than elsewhere in Europe. — Sharon Kay Penman

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

I inhale hope with every breath I take. — Sharon Kay Penman

I've never been so hungry that I was willing to lick honey off thorns. — Sharon Kay Penman

It was just like him, she thought; with him, a happy ending was always a foregone conclusion. But such was the power of his faith that when she was with him; she found herself believing in happy endings, too. — Sharon Kay Penman

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

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

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

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

In the past few months, life had lost its sweetness and he'd lost his way. But no longer. Death was once again the enemy, his indifference and apathy drowned in a Cheshire pond. — Sharon Kay Penman

Women did not have as many options as men, and I need to reflect that reality in my mysteries. — Sharon Kay Penman

For whatever reasons - which had never interested him in his youth but which he sometimes pondered as an adult - the Angevin House had always taken Cain and Abel as role models. — Sharon Kay Penman

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

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

Those who served both the Almighty and secular lords did their best to follow Jesus's teachings and render unto Caesar the things which were Caesar's, and unto God the things that were God's, all the while praying they'd never have to choose between the two. — Sharon Kay Penman

What shall we drink to, Ned? To England?"
"I've a better thought than that. It is not precisely the season for it, with Epiphany still four days hence, and I daresay our lady mother would never forgive me for saying it! But blasphemy or not, I think it fitting, nonetheless."
He touched his cup to the one Richard now held. "To the Resurrection," he said. — Sharon Kay Penman

for each age interprets the past in the light of its own biases. — Sharon Kay Penman

Ranulf had spent much of his life watching those he loved wrestle with the seductive, lethal lure of kingship. It had proved the ruination of his cousin Stephen, a good man who had not made a good king. For his sister Maude, it had been an unrequited love affair, a passion she could neither capture nor renounce. For Hywel, it had been an illusion, a golden glow ever shimmering along the horizon. He believed that his nephew had come the closest to mastery of it, but at what cost? — Sharon Kay Penman

They had gathered at Eastcheap to wait. At this time of day, the marketplace ought to have been thronged with people looking for bargains, moving from stall to stall, examining the fresh fish, choosing the plumpest hens, buying candles and pepper and needles. The stalls were open, but the fishmongers and cordwainers and butchers were doing no business, despite the growing crowd. The sun was hot, flies were thick, and the odors pungent; no one complained, though. They talked and gossiped among themselves, strangers soon becoming friends, for the normally fractious and outspoken Londoners had forgotten their differences, at least for a day, united in a common purpose and determined to revel in their triumph, for they were pragmatic enough to understand this might be their only one. Now they joked and swapped rumors and waited with uncommon patience, and at last they heard a cry, swiftly picked up and echoed across the marketplace: She is coming! — Sharon Kay Penman

What do you know of sacrifice? Need I tell you of York's dead ... of Sandal Castle? My brother did survive the battle, his first. He was seventeen and he entreated them to spare his life. They cut his throat. Their heads were then impaled on York's Micklegate Bar to please the House of Lancaster, to please a harlot and a madman. She had my father's head crowned with straw and she left a spike between the two ... That one, she said, was for York's other son. — Sharon Kay Penman

I should like to freeze in time all those I do love, keep them somehow safe from the ravages of the passing years ... Rather like flowers pressed between the pages of a book! — Sharon Kay Penman

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

It's better to let pride die today than to try and kill it tomorrow. — The Prolific Penman

Autumn that year painted the countryside in vivid shades of scarlet, saffron and russet, and the days were clear and crisp under harvest skies. — Sharon Kay Penman

He'd never seen one so vibrant, though, or so vividly compelling ... those glowing green eyes sparkling with sunlight and curiosity and silent laughter, and when she glanced in Henry's direction, she held his gaze, a look that was both challenging and enigmatic ... He was utterly certain that this was Eleanor of Aquitaine, and no less sure that the French King must be one of God's greatest fools. — Sharon Kay Penman

I do my best to build a strong factual foundation for each of my novels and rely upon my author's notes to keep my conscience clear. — Sharon Kay Penman

After that, he was still. They could hear church bells chiming in the distance. Somewhere Vespers was being rung, people were at Mass, life was going on. Andre had not thought there was a need for words of farewell, not between them. But now he found himself approaching the bed, suddenly afraid that he'd waited too long. "Richard." He held his breath then, until the other man opened his eyes. "Listen to me," he said hoarsely. "You will not be forgotten. A hundred years from now, men will be sitting around campfires and telling the legends of the Lionheart."
The corner of Richard's mouth twitched. "Only ... a hundred years?" he whispered, and Andre and Eleanor saw his last smile through a haze of hot tears. — Sharon Kay Penman

That may be infidel wisdom, but it is wisdom all the same. — Sharon Kay Penman

She opened her mouth, clamped it shut again. This was new, this sudden favor shown Gloucester, had been brought back with him from Burgundy like some malevolent foreign pox. — Sharon Kay Penman

Respect can be as elusive as the unicorn. I know something of this because I write books that are set in the Middle Ages, and the historical novel is often seen as the unwanted stepchild in the fictional family. I know even more about respect - or the lack thereof - because I live in New Jersey. — Sharon Kay Penman

I am who I am today because of the mistakes I made yesterday. — The Prolific Penman

If you can't focus then how do you expect to make your dreams come true? — The Prolific Penman

Yesterday I heard some of the castle servants talking about a funeral for one of the stable lads. He went skating last week on the pond in the village, but the ice was not thick enough and he drowned. I like to skate on the ice,too, Papa, have my own pair of bone skates. I could drown crossing the Channel as Uncle Robert fears ... or I could drown back in Angers, if I was unlucky like that stable lad." Geoffrey's mouth twitched. "God help me," he said, "I've sired a lawyer! — Sharon Kay Penman

Whilst stupidity may indeed be a sin, it is also possible to be too clever. I sometimes fear, John, that you are too clever by half. — Sharon Kay Penman

My novels about medieval Wales were set in unexplored terrain; my readers did not know what lay around every bend in the road. — Sharon Kay Penman

Men kill for many reasons, they steal but for one-greed. — Sharon Kay Penman

... a cynic who was still saddened whenever his jaundiced view of mankind was confirmed ... — Sharon Kay Penman

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

But in all honesty, I do not find it so peculiar a notion, that a Welshman should rule Wales. — Sharon Kay Penman

In time of war, the Devil makes more room in Hell. — Sharon Kay Penman

I will respect you like you were my sister or my mother but inspire and love you like
you were a queen. — The Prolific Penman

An intimate enemy, death, capricious and cruel, ultimately invincible. — Sharon Kay Penman

It was a basic tenet of faith with men of Ranulf's class that a knight, trained in the ways of war since boyhood, could easily vanquish lesser foes, as much a belief in the superiority of blood and breeding as in the benefits of battle lore and killing competence. Ranulf had accepted this comforting conviction, too, but no one seemed to have told his assailants that they were inferior adversaries. — Sharon Kay Penman

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

And it is not in any of our interests to have the balance of power turned on its head like this. An overly mighty French king is no improvement over an overly mighty English one. — Sharon Kay Penman

Hal and Richard show all the good will of Cain and Abel. — Sharon Kay Penman

I know you do not care much for such revelries, but trust me - this one you will enjoy, Harry. You and I will sit at the high table, eating porpoise and swan, whilst we watch my male kinfolk eating humble pie! — Sharon Kay Penman

His was a lonely, unorthodox conviction that war was man's ultimate failure. — Sharon Kay Penman

To call it a "setback" is like calling the Expulsion from Eden a minor misunderstanding. — Sharon Kay Penman

Love is a four letter word if you speak it or write it down, but it becomes powerful once you feel it and live in it. — The Prolific Penman

Edward was now expressing himself on the subject of the French King, drawing upon a vocabulary that a Southwark brothel-keeper might envy. Some of what he was saying was anatomically impossible, much of it was true and all of it envenomed. — Sharon Kay Penman

The Welsh were a god-cursed, stiff-necked, and utterly vexatious people, John said bitterly, but they did have an inexplicable ability to rise phoenixlike from the ashes of defeat, to soar upwards on wings too scorched for flight. — Sharon Kay Penman

Poor Wales. So far from Heaven, so close to England. — Sharon Kay Penman

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

A scar signifies past pain, a wound that did not heal as it ought. But it testifies, too, to survival ... (Here be Dragons) — Sharon Kay Penman

When a man fell into a deep hole, it was usually a good idea to stop digging. — Sharon Kay Penman

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

Like fragile ice, anger passes away in time. Therefore, the greatest remedy for anger is delay. - Gideon Penman of Muirwood Abbey — Jeff Wheeler

There is nothing worse than an enemy with imagination. — Sharon Kay Penman

Want a happier, more content life? I highly recommend the down-to-earth methods you'll find in 'Mindfulness.' Professor Mark Williams and Dr Danny Penman have teamed up to give us scientifically grounded techniques we can apply in the midst of our everyday challenges and catastrophes. — Daniel Goleman

Eleanor's greatest grievance was not a simpering lass with flaxen hair and smooth skin. It was Aquitaine, always Aquitaine. — Sharon Kay Penman

He looked upon this verdant, blossoming spring, a spring Joanna would never see, he looked upon a field of brilliant blue flowers- the bluebells Joanna had so loved- and at that moment he'd willingly have bartered all his tomorrows for but one yesterday. — Sharon Kay Penman

Now our poor Gib never had a sense of humor to lose ... — Sharon Kay Penman

Francis stared down at the Duchess of York's letter. He swallowed, then read aloud in a husky voice, "It was showed by John Sponer that King Richard, late mercifully reigning upon us, was through great treason piteously slain and murdered, to the great heaviness of this City."
As Margaret listened, the embittered grey eyes had softened, misted with sudden tears.
"My brother may lie in an untended grave," she said, "but he does not lack for an epitaph. — Sharon Kay Penman

All that is missing is the dancing bear. — Sharon Kay Penman

I would see him, Edward.'
It was no request; he knew it to be an ultimatum. He shook his head violently, not trusting his voice. Time passed. She was staring at him, saying nothing, and on her face was a look of stunned disbelief, of anguished accusation he knew would haunt him for the rest of his life. But when she spoke, her voice held no hint of tears. It was not a voice to offer either understanding or absolution, spoke of no quarter given, of a lifetime of love denied.
'God may forgive you for this,' she said, very slowly and distinctly, 'but I never shall. — Sharon Kay Penman

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

The last time Ranulf had run into Sulien, the older man had called him a misbegotten English Judas and spat onto the ground at his feet. Yet now that same man was approaching the bed with a jovial smile, so apparently pleased to see the Judas again that Ranulf half-expected him to announce that a fatted calf had been killed in his honor. — Sharon Kay Penman

Life without sinning was like food without salt, pure but tasteless. — Sharon Kay Penman

Just because we can doesn't mean we should and just because we should doesn't mean we can. — The Prolific Penman

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

Eleanor would have been indifferent to the immorality of her adultery, but would never have forgiven the stupidity of it. — Sharon Kay Penman

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

The Lancastrian army had been on the march for fully fifteen hours, had managed to cover twenty-four miles in that dash for the Severn. But Edward had done the impossible; in just twelve hours, he'd ridden an astonishing thirty-five miles. — Sharon Kay Penman

I certainly know all about the Jersey jokes that amuse the rest of the country. You've probably heard them. Our state bird is the mosquito. Our state tree is dead. It doesn't help that we are represented on television by Tony Soprano and 'Jersey Shore.' — Sharon Kay Penman

Deal with your past so that it won't affect your future. — The Prolific Penman