Lent saps the spirits, as of course it is designed to do. - Hilary Mantel

A part of the art of ruling, I suppose, is to know when to shut your ears.

The king turns, he looks at him, astonished. “You are not of Thomas More’s opinion, are you?”
He waits. He cannot imagine what the king is going to say.
“La chasse. He thinks it barbaric.”
“Oh, I see. No, Your Majesty, I favor any sport that’s cheaper than battle.”

I don’t suppose she would be a bad wife, for somebody who was prepared to keep her chained to the wall.