It’s not easy to speak of nonexistence, even if you’ve already commissioned your tomb. - Hilary Mantel

More pats his arm. “Have you no plans to marry again, Thomas? No? Perhaps wise. My father always says, choosing a wife is like putting your hand into a bag full of writhing creatures, with one eel to six snakes. What are the chances you will pull out the eel?”

But I need a new husband. To stop them calling me names. Can the cardinal get husbands?"
"The cardinal can do anything. What kind of husband would you like?"
She considers. "One who will take care of my children. One who can stand up to my family. One who doesn't die.

Have you ever observed that when a man gets a son he takes all the credit, and when he gets a daughter he blames his wife? And if they do not breed at all, we say it is because her womb is barren. We do not say it is because his seed is bad.