The Tudors quotes

74 total quotes



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Cardinal Wolsey: Why should the pope favour the emperor, who has caused him nothing but misery, over the king of England, who has never caused him any harm at all?
Edward Fox: The trouble is, your Eminence, the swords of the king of England are much further away than the swords of the emperor. Diplomacy is nearly always settled by such proximity.
Cardinal Wolsey: Spoken like a true lawyer.

Cardinal Wolsey: Your Majesty, I beg that you yield to the King's will.
Queen Katherine: And what is his will?
Cardinal Wolsey: As His Eminence proposes, that you join a religious community of your choosing and take a vow of perpetual chastity.
Queen Katherine: You speak to me of chastity. Have you not a mistress and two children, Your Eminence?

Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk: Margaret, you and I must stay in the king's good graces or we are nothing. Let him marry who he wishes.
Princess Margaret: That was always your philosophy, wasn't it Charles? So very cynical. Is that why you keep company with that devil Boleyn?
Charles Brandon: You liked him enough once, when he helped us back to court... Or were you just being cynical?
Princess Margaret: I didn't see all of his game. Now I do. I despise him.
Charles Brandon: So do I. But I hate Wolsey more. It's a marriage of expedience.
Princess Margaret: Rather like ours.
Charles Brandon: No, I loved you.
Princess Margaret: You don't know the meaning of the word, Charles. You can love, perhaps for a year, a month, a day, even for an hour. And in that hour I do believe you love as well and deeply... as any man. But after that hour, you love not! You love another, and then another. Your love is most generous where it is most hurtful.

Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk: Someone told me taking infusions was the worst thing.
King Henry: Trust me. It will make you feel sick, but it's better than the sickness it prevents.

Charles Brandon: Your highness must be looking forward with great anticipation to your wedding? I hear the king was a great horseman... in his time. And famous for his beautiful mistresses.
Princess Margaret: Don't tease me. I don't like it.
Charles Brandon: Will you like it when an old man tries to make love to you?
Princess Margaret: Your grace goes too far. Already.
Charles Brandon: Gospel says the truth will make you free.
Princess Margaret: Now you are blasphemous!

Charles Brandon: Your Majesty must forgive me...
Henry VIII: [angrily] Yes I must forgive you, I must always forgive you, BUT I GROW TIRED OF FORGIVING YOU! I HAVE GIVEN YOU EVERYTHING, INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO CALL YOURSELF "PRINCE"!

Emperor Charles: Together we shall invade France and bring to an end the adventures of that libertine monarch, King Francis.
King Henry VIII: That would make me very happy.
Emperor Charles: It will also make you king of France.

King Francis: Do you see that young woman over there? Dressed in purple and gold?
King Henry VIII: Yes.
King Francis: Her name is Mary Boleyn, the daughter of your ambassador, with her sister Anne. I call Mary my english mare, because I ride her so often.

King Henry VIII: [about Brandon] Look, I don't mean he is banished forever. Just as long as he breathes.

King Henry VIII: [to Wolsey] What we lack in men, we can more than make up for in ships. We are in an island race, Cardinal. We have the best and bravest sailors in the world. I will have the greatest navy.
Thomas Wolsey: Ships are expensive, your Majesty.
Henry VIII: My father was a clever man, your Eminence. A shrewd man. A businessman. He left me a great deal of money, your Eminence. I intend to spend it!

King Henry VIII: For a while, I shall have to share Katherine's table, and sometimes her bed.
Anne Boleyn: Her bed!
King Henry: It's nothing. My lawyers have just advised me that to do otherwise might risk counter-suits. I could be seen to be acting against her conjugal rights.
Anne Boleyn: You think it's nothing, to go back to bed with your wife?
King Henry: What do you think is going to happen?
Anne Boleyn: What usually happens.

King Henry VIII: Have I made you unhappy?
Anne Boleyn: No, I would only be unhappy if you ever stopped loving me.
King Henry: London would have to melt into the Thames first.

King Henry VIII: I hear you've been unwell? Is it true?
Cardinal Wolsey: Majesty, when was I ever unwell enough not to serve you?
King Henry: That's what I thought.

King Henry VIII: Mister Wyatt.
Thomas Wyatt: Your Majesty.
King Henry: I hear you're a poet.
Thomas Wyatt: I write poems, I don't know how to be "a poet".
King Henry: I've read some, I like them.
Thomas Wyatt: My Lord, I don't know what to say.
King Henry: [whispers in Wyatt's ear] Were you in love with Anne Boleyn?
Thomas Wyatt: I...
King Henry: Cardinal Wolsey tells me you were once engaged.
Thomas Wyatt: No, that's not true.
King Henry: Did you love her?
Thomas Wyatt: Lady Anne is so beautiful, it is the duty of every man to love her. Of course I loved her, but from a distance. Personally, I have a wife.

King Henry: [to Thomas More] Why is Henry V remembered? Because he endowed Universities? Built Alms houses for the destitute? No. He is remembered because he won the Battle of Agincourt. 3,000 English bowman against 60,000 French. The flower of French chivalry destroyed in 4 hours. That victory made him famous Thomas. It made him immortal!