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Hilary Mantel Quotes

If you have a good story idea, don’t assume it must form a prose narrative. It may work better as a play, a screenplay or a poem. Be flexible Picture Quote #1

Writers do not want to think they are less rational than other people, and at the mercy of compulsions, but in their hearts they know they are like those people who are taken for walks by their dogs, towed through hedges and ditches by an untrained sub-human energy Picture Quote #1

I spend a lot of my time talking to the dead, but since I get paid for it, no one thinks I’m mad Picture Quote #1

For historians, creative writers provide a kind of pornography. They break the rules and admit the thing that is imagined, but is not licensed to be imagined Picture Quote #1

My childhood gave me a very powerful sense of being spooked. I didn’t know whether what I was seeing were sensory images of other people’s unhappiness. Perhaps that was just the way the world manifested itself to me Picture Quote #1

I’ve got so many ideas, and sometimes the more exhausted my body gets, the more active my mind gets Picture Quote #1

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Memory isn’t a theme; it’s part of the human condition Picture Quote #1

Feminism hasn’t failed, it’s just never been tried Picture Quote #1

Insight cannot be taken back. You cannot return to the moment you were in before Picture Quote #1

A statute is written to entrap meaning, a poem to escape it Picture Quote #1

Sometimes peace looks like war, you cannot tell them apart Picture Quote #1

A novel should be a book of questions, not a book of answers Picture Quote #1

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Fear of commitment lies behind the fear of writing Picture Quote #1

It is almost a joke, but a joke that nobody tells Picture Quote #1

I dislike pastiche; it attracts attention to the language only Picture Quote #1

So many years of preparation, for what was called adult life: was it for this? Picture Quote #1

Those who are made can be unmade Picture Quote #1

I’m a very organised and rational and linear thinker, and you have to stop all that to write a novel Picture Quote #1

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When I was thin, I had no notion of what being fat is like. When I worked in a department store, I had sold clothes to women of most sizes, so I should have known; but perhaps you have to experience the state from the inside, to understand what fat is like Picture Quote #1

Though I have never thought of myself as a book collector, there are shelves in our house browsed so often, on so many rainy winter nights, that the contents have seeped into me as if by osmosis Picture Quote #1

It follows that if you are not a mother you are not a grandmother. Your life has become unpunctuated, whereas the lives of other women around you have these distinct phases Picture Quote #1

I once stole a book. It was really just the once, and at the time I called it borrowing. It was 1970, and the book, I could see by its lack of date stamps, had been lying unappreciated on the shelves of my convent school library since its publication in 1945 Picture Quote #1

For myself, the only way I know how to make a book is to construct it like a collage: a bit of dialogue here, a scrap of narrative, an isolated description of a common object, an elaborate running metaphor which threads between the sequences and holds different narrative lines together Picture Quote #1

Fiction leaves us so much work to do, allows the individual so much input; you have to see, you have to hear, you have to taste the madeleine, and while you are seemingly passive in your chair, you have to travel Picture Quote #1

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Fiction isn’t made by scraping the bones of topicality for the last shreds and sinews, to be processed into mechanically recovered prose. Like journalism, it deals in ideas as well as facts, but also in metaphors, symbols and myths Picture Quote #1

If you get stuck, get away from your desk. Take a walk, take a bath, go to sleep, make a pie, draw, listen to music, meditate, exercise; whatever you do, don’t just stick there scowling at the problem. But don’t make telephone calls or go to a party; if you do, other people’s words will pour in where your lost words should be Picture Quote #1

Much historical fiction that centers on real people has always been deficient in information, lacking in craft and empty in affect Picture Quote #1

If you have a good story idea, don’t assume it must form a prose narrative. It may work better as a play, a screenplay or a poem. Be flexible Picture Quote #1

I was the subject of an experiment in love. I lived my life under her gaze, undergoing certain trials for her so that she would not have to undergo them for herself. But, how are our certainties forged, except by the sweat and tears of other people? If your parents don’t teach you how to live; you learn it from books; and clever people watch you learn from your mistakes Picture Quote #1

I would have been a disaster as a career politician. I would never have toed a party line Picture Quote #1

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Friendship Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

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Text Quotes

If you have a good story idea, don’t assume it must form a prose narrative. It may work better as a play, a screenplay or a poem. Be flexible. (Hilary Mantel Quotes) Writers do not want to think they are less rational than other people, and at the mercy of compulsions, but in their hearts they know they are like those people who are taken for walks by their dogs, towed through hedges and ditches by an untrained sub-human energy. (Hilary Mantel Quotes) I spend a lot of my time talking to the dead, but since I get paid for it, no one thinks I’m mad. (Hilary Mantel Quotes) For historians, creative writers provide a kind of pornography. They break the rules and admit the thing that is imagined, but is not licensed to be imagined. (Hilary Mantel Quotes) My childhood gave me a very powerful sense of being spooked. I didn’t know whether what I was seeing were sensory images of other people’s unhappiness. Perhaps that was just the way the world manifested itself to me. (Hilary Mantel Quotes) I’ve got so many ideas, and sometimes the more exhausted my body gets, the more active my mind gets. (Hilary Mantel Quotes) Memory isn’t a theme; it’s part of the human condition (Hilary Mantel Quotes) Feminism hasn’t failed, it’s just never been tried (Hilary Mantel Quotes) Insight cannot be taken back. You cannot return to the moment you were in before (Hilary Mantel Quotes) A statute is written to entrap meaning, a poem to escape it (Hilary Mantel Quotes) Sometimes peace looks like war, you cannot tell them apart (Hilary Mantel Quotes) A novel should be a book of questions, not a book of answers (Hilary Mantel Quotes) Fear of commitment lies behind the fear of writing (Hilary Mantel Quotes) It is almost a joke, but a joke that nobody tells (Hilary Mantel Quotes) I dislike pastiche; it attracts attention to the language only (Hilary Mantel Quotes) So many years of preparation, for what was called adult life: was it for this? (Hilary Mantel Quotes) Those who are made can be unmade (Hilary Mantel Quotes) I’m a very organised and rational and linear thinker, and you have to stop all that to write a novel (Hilary Mantel Quotes) When I was thin, I had no notion of what being fat is like. When I worked in a department store, I had sold clothes to women of most sizes, so I should have known; but perhaps you have to experience the state from the inside, to understand what fat is like (Hilary Mantel Quotes) Though I have never thought of myself as a book collector, there are shelves in our house browsed so often, on so many rainy winter nights, that the contents have seeped into me as if by osmosis (Hilary Mantel Quotes) It follows that if you are not a mother you are not a grandmother. Your life has become unpunctuated, whereas the lives of other women around you have these distinct phases (Hilary Mantel Quotes) I once stole a book. It was really just the once, and at the time I called it borrowing. It was 1970, and the book, I could see by its lack of date stamps, had been lying unappreciated on the shelves of my convent school library since its publication in 1945 (Hilary Mantel Quotes) For myself, the only way I know how to make a book is to construct it like a collage: a bit of dialogue here, a scrap of narrative, an isolated description of a common object, an elaborate running metaphor which threads between the sequences and holds different narrative lines together (Hilary Mantel Quotes) Fiction leaves us so much work to do, allows the individual so much input; you have to see, you have to hear, you have to taste the madeleine, and while you are seemingly passive in your chair, you have to travel (Hilary Mantel Quotes) Fiction isn’t made by scraping the bones of topicality for the last shreds and sinews, to be processed into mechanically recovered prose. Like journalism, it deals in ideas as well as facts, but also in metaphors, symbols and myths (Hilary Mantel Quotes) If you get stuck, get away from your desk. Take a walk, take a bath, go to sleep, make a pie, draw, listen to music, meditate, exercise; whatever you do, don’t just stick there scowling at the problem. But don’t make telephone calls or go to a party; if you do, other people’s words will pour in where your lost words should be (Hilary Mantel Quotes) Much historical fiction that centers on real people has always been deficient in information, lacking in craft and empty in affect (Hilary Mantel Quotes) If you have a good story idea, don’t assume it must form a prose narrative. It may work better as a play, a screenplay or a poem. Be flexible (Hilary Mantel Quotes) I was the subject of an experiment in love. I lived my life under her gaze, undergoing certain trials for her so that she would not have to undergo them for herself. But, how are our certainties forged, except by the sweat and tears of other people? If your parents don’t teach you how to live; you learn it from books; and clever people watch you learn from your mistakes (Hilary Mantel Quotes) I would have been a disaster as a career politician. I would never have toed a party line (Hilary Mantel Quotes)

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