Kate Heartfield > Quotes

“The world is on fire, and they argue about the temperature of the flames.”
― Kate Heartfield, The Embroidered Book

“Claude’s smiled dropped. “A very long time. Since I was a child. I have never—never been a woman.”
― Kate Heartfield, Armed in Her Fashion

“Claude wanted to say: I will be a man still; I will be a man-at-arms again.”
― Kate Heartfield, Armed in Her Fashion

“The Chatelaine stood, not dressed in ermine now but in a simple blue kirtle, like the one Claude wore now. They had taken his chausses and aketon. Whenever he lost his freedom, he lost his clothes.”
― Kate Heartfield, Armed in Her Fashion

“I was a long time falling.”
― Kate Heartfield, The Valkyrie

“Yes, husband. Now it is my desire that matters, not yours. Now I want something. I am very surprised to learn that I want things, for myself, things that have nothing to do with you. I want many things, in fact. Do you know what I want? I want to eat some roast pork, first of all. And then I want to walk the Camino de Santiago on sore feet with a song on my lips. I would like to travel on a ship, also. And I would like to learn how to play dice.”
― Kate Heartfield, Armed in Her Fashion

“She did envy Gertrude after all—not her grief, which must be greater than Beatrix could even imagine, but her boisterous presence in the world. Gertrude took up space; Beatrix was always watching from the corners.”
― Kate Heartfield, Armed in Her Fashion

“How do you piss, how do you fuck? Not how did you manage to sink seven crossbow bolts into the centre of a target in Toulouse, or how did you manage to fight off three brigands in Florence, half-drunk. No: how did you manage the stuffing and the pissing, Claude? Everyone wanted to peel Claude like a shrimp and see what was underneath now.”
― Kate Heartfield, Armed in Her Fashion

“There was a kind of violence that went with such vanity, an unwillingness to let anything else in the world be beautiful.”
― Kate Heartfield, Armed in Her Fashion

“Hmph. And what payment would you ask of me, besides the pleasure of my company, which is, of course, a blessing to all?”
― Kate Heartfield, Armed in Her Fashion

“The king of France is handsome, Antoinette decides.”
― Kate Heartfield, The Embroidered Book

“If you have no plan, you will think with your fists, and the only decision you’ll make is whether the face before you is a face you know or not. The face you do not know, you punch. The face you know, you do not punch. That is true loyalty. They say we men of the free companies have no honour, because we fight for whoever pays us. But Claude, my little Claude, our honour is not in whom we serve but in whom we protect. That is the second thing I ask of you: Look after those whose faces you know.”
― Kate Heartfield, Armed in Her Fashion

“If I have no plan, then nothing can go wrong,” said Janos. “I will not waste any time rewriting my plans as I go. I do not want any planners and falterers, Claude, mark me, now, for you are young and desperate, and I want you to stay that way. I want only desperate men beside me!”
― Kate Heartfield, Armed in Her Fashion

“Much better to force people to choose at once, friend or foe, and then he knew where they stood.”
― Kate Heartfield, Armed in Her Fashion

“Everyone always wants to know the most boring things. How I pissed. How I shaved. Nobody wants to know how I shot eleven soldiers with only ten bolts at the battle of Zappolino.”
― Kate Heartfield, Armed in Her Fashion

“His muscles and bones were the only truth he could trust.”
― Kate Heartfield, Armed in Her Fashion

“Geneviève lowers her face, raises her eyebrows and looks at her as though she ought to know better. 'My dear, I can get whatever I like.”
― Kate Heartfield, The Embroidered Book

“Three hundred and twenty-seven years ago”
― Kate Heartfield, The Valkyrie

“You will not be powerless in Naples, my dear daughter. Power is not something you are given. Power is something you take.”
― Kate Heartfield, The Embroidered Book

“It is as if that vision is so strong, so stamped on the future memory of this land, that I cannot help but call it to mind.”
― Kate Heartfield, Armed in Her Fashion

“The treasures of a girl, worthless to a world that does not know about her sacrifices.”
― Kate Heartfield, The Embroidered Book

“She hesitates, then nods. Is she not here to be pretty and suitable? What does it matter what her name is?”
― Kate Heartfield, The Embroidered Book

“The current Empress of Russia began life as the shabby daughter of a shabby soldier in a shabby town. But her mother made her a good marriage. And now Catherine rules an empire!" "Catherine rules because she had her husband killed and seized his throne for herself." Charlotte says with a little smile.”
― Kate Heartfield, The Embroidered Book