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Hilary Mantel Quotes

I think I would have been a reasonably good lawyer. I have a faculty for making sense of mountains of information 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

I am usually protective of my work, not showing it to anyone until it has been redrafted and polished Picture Quote #1

History is always changing behind us, and the past changes a little every time we retell it Picture Quote #1

For many imaginative writers, working for the press is a fact of their life. But it’s best not to like it too much Picture Quote #1

As a writer, you owe it to yourself not to get stuck in a rut of looking at the world in a certain way Picture Quote #1

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History offers us vicarious experience. It allows the youngest student to possess the ground equally with his elders; without a knowledge of history to give him a context for present events, he is at the mercy of every social misdiagnosis handed to him Picture Quote #1

My first career ambitions involved turning into a boy; I intended to be either a railway guard or a knight errant Picture Quote #1

I’m one of these children who grew up at the knee of my grandmother and her elder sister, listening to very old people talk about their memories Picture Quote #1

I used to think that when I set out that doing the research was enough! But then the gaps would emerge that could only be filled by the imagination. And imagination only comes when you privilege the subconscious, when you make delay and procrastination work for you Picture Quote #1

It is better not to try people, not to force them to desperation. Make them prosper; out of superfluidity, they will be generous. Full bellies breed gentle manners. The pinch of famine makes monsters Picture Quote #1

For what’s the point of breeding children, if each generation does not improve on what went before Picture Quote #1

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Rafe asks him, could the king’s freedom be obtained, sir, with more economy of means? Less bloodshed? Look, he says: once you have exhausted the process of negotiation and compromise, one you have fixed on the destruction of an enemy, that destruction must be swift and it must be perfect. Before you even glance in his direction, you should have his name on a warrant, the ports blocked, his wife and friends bought, his heir under your protection, his money in your strong room and his dog running to your whistle. Before he wakes in the morning, you should have the axe in your hand Picture Quote #1

You can have a silence full of words. A lute retains, in its bowl, the notes it has played. The viol, in its strings, holds a concord. A shriveled petal can hold its scent, a prayer can rattle with curses; an empty house, when the owners have gone out, can still be loud with ghosts Picture Quote #1

Once you’re labeled as mentally ill, and that’s in your medical notes, then anything you say can be discounted as an artefact of your mental illness Picture Quote #1

When you are writing laws you are testing words to find their utmost power. Like spells, they have to make things happen in the real world, and like spells, they only work if people believe in them Picture Quote #1

Fortitude... It means fixity of purpose. It means endurance. It means having the strength to live with what constrains you Picture Quote #1

There’s a feeling of power in reserve, a power that drives right through the bone, like the shiver you sense in the shaft of an axe when you take it into your hand. You can strike, or you can not strike, and if you choose to hold back the blow, you can still feel inside you the resonance of the omitted thing Picture Quote #1

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Some readers read a book as if it were an instruction manual, expecting to understand everything first time, but of course when you write, you put into every sentence an overflow of meaning, and you create in every sentence as many resonances and double meanings and ambiguities as you can possibly pack in there, so that people can read it again and get something new each time Picture Quote #1

Write a book you’d like to read. If you wouldn’t read it, why would anybody else? Don’t write for a perceived audience or market. It may well have vanished by the time your book’s ready Picture Quote #1

The things you think are the disasters in your life are not the disasters really. Almost anything can be turned around: out of every ditch, a path, if you can only see it Picture Quote #1

The weight of the old world is stifling, and trying to shovel its weight off your life is tiring just to think about. The constant shuttling of opinions is tiring, and the shuffling of papers across desks, the chopping of logic and the trimming of attitudes. There must, somewhere, be a simpler, more violent world 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

Truth can break the gates down, truth can howl in the street; unless truth is pleasing, personable and easy to like, she is condemned to stay whimpering at the back door Picture Quote #1

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Busyness, I feel increasingly, is the writer’s curse and downfall. You read too much and write too readily, you become cut off from your inner life, from the flow of your own thoughts, and turned far too much towards the outside world Picture Quote #1

You’re only young once, they say, but doesn’t it go on for a long time? More years than you can bear Picture Quote #1

Why are we so attached to the severities of the past? Why are we so proud of having endured our fathers and our mothers, the fireless days and the meatless days, the cold winters and the sharp tongues? It’s not as if we had a choice Picture Quote #1

It is all very well planning what you will do in six months, what you will do in a year, but it’s no good at all if you don’t have a plan for tomorrow Picture Quote #1

It is the absence of facts that frightens people: the gap you open, into which they pour their fears, fantasies, desires Picture Quote #1

You learn nothing about men by snubbing them and crushing their pride. You must ask them what it is they can do in this world, that they alone can do Picture Quote #1

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Friendship Quotes

Motivational Quotes

Inspirational Quotes

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Text Quotes

I think I would have been a reasonably good lawyer. I have a faculty for making sense of mountains of information (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) I am usually protective of my work, not showing it to anyone until it has been redrafted and polished (Hilary Mantel Quotes) History is always changing behind us, and the past changes a little every time we retell it (Hilary Mantel Quotes) For many imaginative writers, working for the press is a fact of their life. But it’s best not to like it too much (Hilary Mantel Quotes) As a writer, you owe it to yourself not to get stuck in a rut of looking at the world in a certain way (Hilary Mantel Quotes) History offers us vicarious experience. It allows the youngest student to possess the ground equally with his elders; without a knowledge of history to give him a context for present events, he is at the mercy of every social misdiagnosis handed to him (Hilary Mantel Quotes) My first career ambitions involved turning into a boy; I intended to be either a railway guard or a knight errant (Hilary Mantel Quotes) I’m one of these children who grew up at the knee of my grandmother and her elder sister, listening to very old people talk about their memories (Hilary Mantel Quotes) I used to think that when I set out that doing the research was enough! But then the gaps would emerge that could only be filled by the imagination. And imagination only comes when you privilege the subconscious, when you make delay and procrastination work for you (Hilary Mantel Quotes) It is better not to try people, not to force them to desperation. Make them prosper; out of superfluidity, they will be generous. Full bellies breed gentle manners. The pinch of famine makes monsters (Hilary Mantel Quotes) For what’s the point of breeding children, if each generation does not improve on what went before (Hilary Mantel Quotes) Rafe asks him, could the king’s freedom be obtained, sir, with more economy of means? Less bloodshed? Look, he says: once you have exhausted the process of negotiation and compromise, one you have fixed on the destruction of an enemy, that destruction must be swift and it must be perfect. Before you even glance in his direction, you should have his name on a warrant, the ports blocked, his wife and friends bought, his heir under your protection, his money in your strong room and his dog running to your whistle. Before he wakes in the morning, you should have the axe in your hand (Hilary Mantel Quotes) You can have a silence full of words. A lute retains, in its bowl, the notes it has played. The viol, in its strings, holds a concord. A shriveled petal can hold its scent, a prayer can rattle with curses; an empty house, when the owners have gone out, can still be loud with ghosts (Hilary Mantel Quotes) Once you’re labeled as mentally ill, and that’s in your medical notes, then anything you say can be discounted as an artefact of your mental illness (Hilary Mantel Quotes) When you are writing laws you are testing words to find their utmost power. Like spells, they have to make things happen in the real world, and like spells, they only work if people believe in them (Hilary Mantel Quotes) Fortitude... It means fixity of purpose. It means endurance. It means having the strength to live with what constrains you (Hilary Mantel Quotes) There’s a feeling of power in reserve, a power that drives right through the bone, like the shiver you sense in the shaft of an axe when you take it into your hand. You can strike, or you can not strike, and if you choose to hold back the blow, you can still feel inside you the resonance of the omitted thing (Hilary Mantel Quotes) Some readers read a book as if it were an instruction manual, expecting to understand everything first time, but of course when you write, you put into every sentence an overflow of meaning, and you create in every sentence as many resonances and double meanings and ambiguities as you can possibly pack in there, so that people can read it again and get something new each time (Hilary Mantel Quotes) Write a book you’d like to read. If you wouldn’t read it, why would anybody else? Don’t write for a perceived audience or market. It may well have vanished by the time your book’s ready (Hilary Mantel Quotes) The things you think are the disasters in your life are not the disasters really. Almost anything can be turned around: out of every ditch, a path, if you can only see it (Hilary Mantel Quotes) The weight of the old world is stifling, and trying to shovel its weight off your life is tiring just to think about. The constant shuttling of opinions is tiring, and the shuffling of papers across desks, the chopping of logic and the trimming of attitudes. There must, somewhere, be a simpler, more violent world (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) Truth can break the gates down, truth can howl in the street; unless truth is pleasing, personable and easy to like, she is condemned to stay whimpering at the back door (Hilary Mantel Quotes) Busyness, I feel increasingly, is the writer’s curse and downfall. You read too much and write too readily, you become cut off from your inner life, from the flow of your own thoughts, and turned far too much towards the outside world (Hilary Mantel Quotes) You’re only young once, they say, but doesn’t it go on for a long time? More years than you can bear (Hilary Mantel Quotes) Why are we so attached to the severities of the past? Why are we so proud of having endured our fathers and our mothers, the fireless days and the meatless days, the cold winters and the sharp tongues? It’s not as if we had a choice (Hilary Mantel Quotes) It is all very well planning what you will do in six months, what you will do in a year, but it’s no good at all if you don’t have a plan for tomorrow (Hilary Mantel Quotes) It is the absence of facts that frightens people: the gap you open, into which they pour their fears, fantasies, desires (Hilary Mantel Quotes) You learn nothing about men by snubbing them and crushing their pride. You must ask them what it is they can do in this world, that they alone can do (Hilary Mantel Quotes)

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