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Margaret George

Margaret George Biography

Historian

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“Mary watched the sunset from her carriage window, realizing that such beauty could never last. Life was a golden glory that faded in the wink of an eye. Life was a village fair that only lasted for a single day. As the carriage rattled along, rocking her like a babe in arms, Mary felt very old and wise. She found that she didn't mind being taken back to the castle, to a caring captivity that was filled with comforts and kindness. And she also found that she couldn't keep her eyes open.”

WisdomLife LessonsAcceptance
Book:Mary Queen Of Scotland And The Isles
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“I did not worry about what a man or woman personally believed, but the nation's official religion should be outwardly practiced by all its citizens. A religion was a political statement. Being a Calvinist, a papist, a Presbyterian, an Anglican labeled a person's philosophy on education, taxes, poor relief, and other secular things. The nation needed an accepted position on such concerns. Hence the fines for not outwardly conforming to the national church.”

MenShouldPersonsPhilosophyPoliticalNationsChurchPoorWorryPositionFineNeededCitizensTaxesConcernAcceptedStatementsOfficialsReliefSecularConformPresbyterians
Book:Elizabeth I
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“Now I felt the long-forgotten urgency of lovemaking, when it seems one's human selves leave, to be replaced by hungry beasts bolting their food. Gone are the civilized beings who talk of manners and journeys and letters; in their places are two bodies straining to give birth to a burst of inhuman pleasure followed by a great, floating nothingness. An explosion of life followed by death - in this we live, and in this we foreshadow our own sweet deaths.”

GivingHumansLongTwoSelfBodySeemsFeltPleasureGoneJourneySweetBirthLettersForgottenHungryMannersBeastCivilizedReplacedNothingnessFloatingExplosionsUrgencyInhumanSweet Death
Book:The Memoirs of Cleopatra
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“It is almost impossible to describe happiness, because at the time it feels entirely natural, as if all the rest of your life has been the aberration; only in retrospect does it swim into focus as the rare and precious thing it is. When it is present, it seems to be eternal, abiding forever, and there is no need to examine it or clutch it. Later, when it has evaporated, you stare in dismay at your empty palm, where only a little of the perfume lingers to prove that once it was there, and now is flown.”

IfsNeedsFeelsLittlesDoeHas BeensSeemsNaturalForeverFocusImpossibleProveEternalEmptyStaringSwimPalmsPerfumeRest Of Your LifeAbidingRetrospectClutchPrecious ThingsAberrationDismay
Book:The Memoirs of Cleopatra
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“Oh, he was just angry, we tell ourselves when someone blurts out something he later apologizes for. But a word, once spoken, lingers forever; to keep peace we pretend to forget, but we never do. Strange that a spoken word can have such lasting power when words carved on stone monuments vanish in spite of all our efforts to preserve them. What we would lose persists, lodged in our minds, and what we would keep is lost to water, moths, moss.”

MindLostWaterLosesForgetEffortForeverStrangeStonesAngryPreservesSpiteLastingPersistApologizingMonumentMossSpoken WordMoths
Book:The Memoirs of Cleopatra
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“Lying in bed, half-covered by the blankets, I would drowsily ask why he had come to my door that night long ago. It had become a ritual for us, as it does for all lovers: where, when, why? remember...I understand even old people rehearse their private religion of how they first loved, most guarded of secrets. And he would answer, sleep blurring his words, "Because I had to." The question and the answer were always the same. Why? Because I had to.”

PeopleFirstsLongDoeRememberLyingNightAsksSleepAnswersSecretHalfDoorsLoversBedCoveredRitualLong AgoOld PeopleBlanketGuarded
Book:The Memoirs of Cleopatra: A Novel
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“Boredom is that awful state of inaction when the very medicine ― that is, activity ― which could solve it, is seen as odious. Archery? It is too cold, and besides, the butts need re-covering; the rats have been at the straw. Music? To hear it is tedious; to compose it, too taxing. And so on. Of all the afflictions, boredom is ultimately the most unmanning. Eventually, it transforms you into a great nothing who does nothing ― a cousin to sloth and a brother to melancholy.”

NeedsDoeHas BeensStatesBrotherColdActivityMedicineSolveAwfulBoredBoredomMelancholyRatsAfflictionCousinCoveringInactionTediousStrawsSlothArchery
Author:Margaret George
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“One always imagines that the days that change one’s life must be marked with something extraordinary in nature—storms and lightning, darkness at noon, and so on. In truth they are indistinguishable from any other, which is one reason we feel mocked, as if the world is telling us we are inconsequential.”

IfsWorldLifeFeelsReasonDarknessImagineExtraordinaryStormImagine ThatLightningNoonInconsequentialDarkness At Noon
Book:Elizabeth I: The Novel
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