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Hilary Mantel

Hilary Mantel Quotes

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Famous 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.”

PeopleIfsShouldProblemLostSleepWalksPartyExerciseDrawsSticksStuckGet AwayPieDesksTelephonesListening To MusicBathsGoing To SleepWriter's Block
Author:Hilary Mantel
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“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.”

ThinkingWorldTryingLife IsAttitudeOpinionPaperLogicWeightConstantViolentDesksPapersTireOld WorldShovelsStiflingChoppingShufflingTrimming
Book:Three-Book Edition: A Place of Greater Safety; Beyond Black; The Giant O’Brien
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“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.”

PeopleIfsBookCertainParentMistakeWatchesTeachSubjectsTearsCleverTrialsExperimentsCertaintySweatForgedLearn From Your MistakesSweat And Tears
Author:Hilary Mantel
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“The fate of peoples is made like this, two men in small rooms. Forget the coronations, the conclaves of cardinals, the pomp and processions. This is how the world changes: a counter pushed across a table, a pen stroke that alters the force of a phrase, a woman's sigh as she passes and leaves on the air a trail of orange flower or rose water; her hand pulling close the bed curtain, the discreet sigh of flesh against flesh.”

MenWorldMadeTwoHandsForceWaterForgetRoomsFateAirFlowerBedTablesRoseFleshPhrasesPensPullingStrokesOrangeSighCurtainsTrailsCardinalsProcessionDiscreetCoronationSmall Rooms
Author:Hilary Mantel
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“Suppose within each book there is another book, and within every letter on every page another volume constantly unfolding; but these volumes take no space on the desk. Suppose knowledge could be reduced to a quintessence, held within a picture, a sign, held within a place which is no place. Suppose the human skull were to become capacious, spaces opening inside it, humming chambers like beehives.”

HumansBookSpacePagesLettersOpeningVolumeDesksChamberSkullsUnfoldingHummingQuintessenceBeehives
Author:Hilary Mantel
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