Carmen

“I cannot know what the future will bring us," he says in a rapid undertone. "I cannot know where you will be given in marriage, nor what life might hold for me. But I can't let you go without telling you--without telling you at least once--that I love you."

I snatch a breath at the words. "Woodville--"

"I can offer you nothing; I am next to nothing, and you are the greatest lady in France. But I wanted you to know, I love you and I want you, and I have done since the day I first saw you."

"I should--"

"I have to tell you, you have to know. I have loved you honorably as a knight should do his lady, and I have loved you passionately as a man might a woman; and now, before I leave you, I want to tell you that I love you, I love you--" He breaks off and looks at me desperately. "I had to tell you," he repeats.”
― Philippa Gregory, The Lady of the Rivers

“You have to sit with your longing and know that you may not get what you want; you have to encounter the danger of longing for something without the expectation of getting your desire.”
― Philippa Gregory, The Lady of the Rivers

“I am marrying the finest man I have ever known.” “It will cost you dear,” he warns. “It would be worse to lose him.”
― Philippa Gregory, The Lady of the Rivers

“The wheel of fortune [...] tells us that we all only want victory. We all want to triumph. But we all have to learn to endure what comes. We have to learn to treat misfortune and great fortune with indifference. That is wisdom.”
― Philippa Gregory, The Lady of the Rivers