Empress Quotes

“…the designation of wife in India, of the Hindu wife, is higher and grander than that of Empress. She is called Devi”
― Virchand Raghavji Gandhi

“He doesn't need to tend her, because she hunts her own prey. He doesn't need to shield her, because she kills her own enemies. He doesn't need to look for her, because she's always at his side.”
― Kate Quinn, Lady of the Eternal City

“But if someone comes at me with a knife, I'm not just going to let them stab me just because they're weaker than me.”
― Alphatart, The Remarried Empress, Season 1

“Her voice is still pitched high, thanks to her youth, but it has a certain incipient darkness to it, a low richness that will mature in the coming years to the smoky tones of a priestess or a queen -- a woman of great natural power.”
― Libbie Hawker, Daughter of Sand and Stone

“Men's freedom is their unfaithfulness: the Son of Heaven or the son of a peasant, they could both reduce me to the mediocre torments of a woman.”
― Shan Sa, Empress

“The Empress surrounds you at all times. She feeds the soul with her brilliance and beauty of the night sky. Mountain landscapes, rolling hills, and ocean waves rise like the curve of her hips. Her breath is the warm air of summer, her cool palms are the willow tree's shade. She is the peace of mind of a walking meditation. The Empress fills you with the entirety of the world's beauty if you let her in. She shows you in no uncertain terms, that you are never, ever alone. You are part and parcel of the glistening, pulsating world of energetic and beautific connection. You are her and she is you. She is everything and everything is you.”
― Sasha Graham, Llewellyn's Complete Book of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot: A Journey Through the History, Meaning, and Use of the World's Most Famous Deck

“First an empress, then an empire.”
― A.D. Aliwat, In Limbo

“Aaron anticipated the application of some kind of healing balm, but to his surprise the healer started singing a soft melodic tune. The breath from the notes fell on Aaron’s injured arm and he felt the hairs on his forearm react to the soft breath. It was only moments before the song drifted away on the wind and Wonataban’s instruction followed the last note: “Open your eyes.”
― Robert Reid, The Empress: The Emperor The Son and The Thief

“By almost every account he's a fine young man. I'm simply trying to figure out why I should care that he's three centimeters taller than he was in May.”
― John Burnham Schwartz, The Commoner

“An Empress drank her husband’s blood in long draughts thousands of years ago.”
― Franz Kafka, The Complete Stories

“It is darker than usual in my chamber tonight, not having you here to light the tallow candles as you usually do. I used to find comfort in your warm smile as you would spark light throughout my melancholy space.”
― Susan L. Marshall, Adira and the Dark Horse

“The wax of my single tallow candle has melted considerably and only a tiny spark of life remains in its fire. As I sit at this desk, its flailing light bewitches me. My hands are clutched tightly together, trying to summon my energy to regain my composure.
Inside my heart, a deep sadness resides, creeping its way through my body.

Lowering my hands to my womb, I feel a great sense of hollow emptiness. Once there sat a precious life, wrestling its way inside my being and sparking my heart with love and hope.”
― Susan L. Marshall, Adira and the Dark Horse

“The Emperor likes to keep an eye on all mail sent from the palace and so he does
not approve of the use of envelopes. So I have learned how to employ the ancient art of letter locking: delicately folding and slitting sections of the letter and gluing them down with adhesive where necessary. I feel a lightness of life to know that my words in this letter are sealed away and will only be revealed to you.”
― Susan L. Marshall, Adira and the Dark Horse

“Staring ahead, I felt my body clutched and clawed at. Strong words of desperation were cried
into my ears. I felt a deep responsibility for the people and the situations that they found
themselves in. I also felt helpless to prevent the Emperor from causing any more harm.”
― Susan L. Marshall, Adira and the Dark Horse

“[Minnie] knew what the public wanted of her and relished her role as empress, playing it extremely well, taking an almost childish delight in brilliant jewels, stylish clothing and grand parties. People responded readily to her pleasure. Physically small, she stood with royal carriage and a vital presence, commanding any room she entered. Her public both admired and liked her.”
― John Curtis Perry, The Flight of the Romanovs: A Family Saga

“Official historians have long depicted wu zetian as a sort of chinese version of the Red Queen from The Alice and Wonderland, by focusing on her secret police and fondness by bumping off enemies. "And she slept her way to the top".
An interesting angle given that her brief dynasty was one of the most prosperious periods in many respects (in terms of peace, arts, and social progress.)
On the other hand, what is always pointed out (and emphasized as fact) is that she was fearsome, ambitious, and ruthless. Common (and valued)character traits in just about every emperor...but clearly not easy to digest in an empress”
― Pénélope Bagieu, Brazen: Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World

“Constance was interested only in the actual history of the real woman Semiramis. The wild mythologies and legends that had grown up around her over the centuries bit too deeply into Constance’s own uncertainty and guilty fear. She could not bear the legendary, magical figure featured in multiple, sometimes conflicting embellishments, certainly not the damned creature of Dante—-consigned to Hell in the Circle of Lust—-or the tragic figure of Voltaire or Rossini’s opera. But the real woman Semiramis, who had taken the throne at her husband’s death and remained there until her son came of age, who had ruled, expanded, and stabilized the Assyrian Empire, here was a woman who could lend her hope. Aside from history, the only myth of Semiramis that touched her was that of an abandoned girl raised by doves.”
― Diane C. McPhail, The Seamstress of New Orleans

“L’impératrice Tarunesh inclina son visage généreux aux traits réguliers à son adresse, bien que le jeune Sorcelier ne puisse affirmer si c’était en signe de remerciement ou une simple notification de sa remarque. Le Dejazmach Elias sembla vouloir en tirer parti :
- Voyez, Ô Reine des Rois, une bête fauve et quoi d’autre par-dessus le marché ! Permettez-moi de risquer ma vie plutôt que d’exposer votre auguste personne inutilement…
Il y eut des murmures d’approbation mais Célian nota que Nyssa, qui à son grand plaisir le rejoignait, ne partageait visiblement pas l’avis d’Elias.
- Votre inquiétude n’est pas de mise, Dejazmach, s’exclama Tarunesh avec une douceur voilée, ses yeux brillants emplis d’assurance. Le jour où une bête des herbes grasses aura ma vie, je ne serai effectivement plus digne de régner ! Assez perdu de temps.
Selamawit, Mengistu, escortez notre Nigiste Negest ! commanda le Dejazmach Elias en se redressant vivement, se tournant vers les guerriers et la foule assemblés derrière lui.”
― Cyrille Mendes, Les Épieurs d'Ombre

“Therese of Austry would have made a great treasure hunter if she hadn’t been born the daughter of an Emperor.”
― Cornelia Funke, Reckless

“In this eyewitness story, we meet Tzu-hsi in the twilight of her reign. Advanced in age, the Empress on the Dragon Throne is no longer the young beauty whose skill at seduction and aptitude for court intrigue saw her rise from a lowly Imperial concubine to the second most powerful place under the Hsien-feng Emperor.”
― Noel Marie Fletcher, Two Years in the Forbidden City

“Armed with her title as princess, the married name of Mrs. Thaddeus White, and the United States as a new frontier to conquer, Der Ling won many admirers.”
― Noel Marie Fletcher, Two Years in the Forbidden City

“While browsing through the Seattle Art Museum in 1945, a scholar discovered a 5-inch jade seal, missing from China since the Boxer Rebellion, as a priceless Imperial seal. “My spectacles fell off my nose and I started to yell,” said Hugh Alexander Matier, 62-year-old scholar and traveler.”
― Noel Marie Fletcher, Two Years in the Forbidden City

“Could you really be expected to..." she paused, searching for the word.
"Pleasure?" He offered, amiably.
"Entertain. All three of them?"
He began dealing the cards again. "Yes."
"How?"
He looked up at her, and offered her a wolfish grin. "Would you really like me to answer that?"
Her eyes widened. "Uhm... no."
He laughed then, a deep, rumbling laugh unlike anything she'd ever heard from him, and she was stunned by the way it transformed him. His face was immediately lighter, his eyes brighter, his frame more relaxed. She couldn't help but smile back at him, even as she admonished, "You're enjoying my discomfort."
"Indeed I am, Empress."
She blushed. "You shouldn't call me that."
"Why not? You were named for an empress, were you not?"
She closed her eyes and gave a mock shudder. "I prefer not to be reminded of the hideous name."
"You should embrace it," he said, forthrightly. "You're one of the few women I've met who could live up to such a name."
"You've said that before," she said.
He turned a curious look on her. "I have?"
She met his eyes and immediately regretted bringing up the decade-old memory, so insignificant to him- so very meaningful to her.”
― Sarah MacLean, Nine Rules to Break When Romancing a Rake

“Bloody ashes, but that had been a fun game. She had had the better of him time and again. Light send him plenty of women who could do that, though not in rapid succession, and always when he knew how to find the back door. Tuon was one. Come to think of it, he would probably never need another.”
― Robert Jordan, A Memory of Light

“Yes, I wanted to destroy my enemies, but would I destroy myself in the process?”
― Rachel L. Schade, Empire of Traitors

“This is phoenix embroidery.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. That is the traditional symbol for an empress.”
“I thought it would be a dragon.” That was what the old emperor had worn on his ceremonial robes. It was also the animal carved on the ceiling of the imperial audience hall and on the throne.
“The dragon symbolizes the emperor. The phoenix symbolizes the empress. Both are majestic creatures, and both convey great authority.”
― Livia Blackburne, Feather and Flame

“Mulan found it easier to face the morning by pretending that her clothes were armor. The stiff coronation robe Ting was smoothing down over her shoulders? She imagined it woven with threads of spun gold, the embroidered phoenixes stitched with blazing-red iron. Her sash, hanging loose down her back, was a shoulder guard of blue iron, and the phoenixes on her shoes were spikes and spurs.
“Please keep your head forward, Empress.”
A handmaiden gripped a handful of hair, pulling it taut enough to make Mulan’s eyes water. The hair, at least, was easy to imagine as a helmet. By the time the maid finished wrapping it around multiple combs and adorning the layered buns with everything from flowers to jade to tiny golden bells, Mulan’s coiffure would stop arrows far better than anything the imperial blacksmiths could craft.
The maid inserted one last pin and stepped back. “All done.”
She pulled the train of Mulan’s robe out as Mulan stepped in front of a full-length mirror. Mulan’s reflection was warped and metallic on the coppery finish, but she could see that she was made up as intricately as the finest ladies of court, her face powdered white, her eyes lined with charcoal, and her lips painted red as her sash. Her eyebrows had been shaved and drawn back in with blue-black pigment. Tiny silver beads adorned her yellow-tinted forehead, and three flowers had been painted on her right cheek.
“Armor,” Mulan said under her breath.
“Your Majesty?”
“Nothing, just talking to myself.”
― Livia Blackburne, Feather and Flame

“Mulan found it easier to face the morning by pretending that her clothes were armor. The stiff coronation robe Ting was smoothing down over her shoulders. She imagined it woven with threads of spun gold, the embroidered phoenixes stitched with blazing-red iron. Her sash, hanging loose down her back, was a shoulder guard of blue iron, and the phoenixes on her shoes were spikes and spurs.
“Please keep your head forward, Empress.”
A handmaiden gripped a handful of hair, pulling it taut enough to make Mulan’s eyes water. The hair, at least, was easy to imagine as a helmet. By the time the maid finished wrapping it around multiple combs and adorning the layered buns with everything from flowers to jade to tiny golden bells, Mulan’s coiffure would stop arrows far better than anything the imperial blacksmiths could craft.
The maid inserted one last pin and stepped back. “All done.”
She pulled the train of Mulan’s robe out as Mulan stepped in front of a full-length mirror. Mulan’s reflection was warped and metallic on the coppery finish, but she could see that she was made up as intricately as the finest ladies of court, her face powdered white, her eyes lined with charcoal, and her lips painted red as her sash. Her eyebrows had been shaved and drawn back in with blue-black pigment. Tiny silver beads adorned her yellow-tinted forehead, and three flowers had been painted on her right cheek.
“Armor,” Mulan said under her breath.
“Your Majesty?”
“Nothing, just talking to myself.”
― Livia Blackburne

“Most women don’t have the option to say no to men or refuse their orders. You are the empress. You have the strength of the spirits, of women who came before you and who will come after you. Why let your decisions be made for you?”
― Livia Blackburne, Feather and Flame

“You say that hens should not announce the dawn.” She spoke powerfully enough for all to hear. “And yet it has happened every morning since the day I was crowned. You presumed to know Heaven’s will, claiming that the five falling stars at my coronation were Heaven’s disapproval of me, rather than indictments of your own treachery. But the spirits have spoken. I am the rightful empress of China, chosen by my predecessor and given the Mandate of Heaven. And I will remain empress of China until the gods, not you, decide otherwise.”
― Livia Blackburne, Feather and Flame