Quotessence
Home / Authors / Hilary Mantel
Hilary Mantel

Hilary Mantel Quotes

Writer

Filter quotes by topic

AllIfsThomas CromwellPeopleThinkingWritingBookWorldFirstsShouldWolf HallHenry ViiiI CanWayHistorianNovelRunningWellsYearsFeminismGenerations

Famous Hilary Mantel Quotes

“Cravats grow higher, as if they mean to protect the throat. The highest cravats in public life will be worn by Citizen Antoine Saint-Just, of the National Convention and the Committee of Public Safety. In the dark and harrowing days of '94, an obscene feminine inversion will appear: a thin crimson ribbon, worn round a bare white neck.”

IfsMeanGrowsDarkWhiteHigherCitizensProtectHighestSafetyRoundsSaintNecksFeminineThroatConventionsWornCommitteesPublic LifeObsceneRibbonsCrimsonPublic SafetyInversions
Author:Hilary Mantel
Create image

“Read Becoming a Writer by Dorothea Brande. Then do what it says, including the tasks you think are impossible. You will particularly hate the advice to write first thing in the morning, but if you can manage it, it might well be the best thing you ever do for yourself. This book is about becoming a writer from the inside out. Many later advice manuals derive from it. You don't ­really need any others, though if you want to boost your confidence, "how to" books seldom do any harm. You can kick-start a whole book with some little writing exercise.”

IfsThinkingWantNeedsWritingFirstsWellsLittlesBookWholeMightHateMorningImpossibleAdviceBecomingExerciseTasksIncludingHarmManageBest ThingsKicksBeing The BestManualsBoostBoost Your Confidence
Author:Hilary Mantel
Create image

“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
Create image

“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
Create image

“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.”

PeopleIfsWritingFirstsBookCoursesReaderFirst TimeSentencesSomething NewInstructionExpectingPacksAmbiguityManualsResonanceOverflowDouble Meaning
Author:Hilary Mantel
Create image

“It's not easy to diagnose because depending where the endometrial deposits are, the symptoms can be quite different. It's an unrecognized problem among teenage girls, and it's something that every young woman who has painful menstruation should be aware of... It's a condition that is curable if it's caught early. If not, if it's allowed to run on, it can cause infertility, and it can really, really mess up your life.”

IfsShouldDifferentProblemRunningYoungGirlCausesEasyConditionsCaughtPainfulMessInterviewsYoung WomenTeenageSymptomsDepositsTeenage GirlInfertilityMenstruationNpr
Author:Hilary Mantel
Create image

“He is careful to deny responsibility for September, but he does not, you notice, condemn the killings. He also refrains from killing words, sparing Roland and Buzot, as if they were beneath his notice. August 10 was illegal, he says; so too was the taking of the Bastille. What account can we take of that, in revolution? It is the nature of revolutions to break laws. We are not justices of the peace; we are legislators to a new world.”

IfsWorldDoeLawJusticeResponsibilityBreakRevolutionAccountsKillingCarefulDenyIllegalNew WorldSeptemberAugustRefrainLegislatorsBastille
Author:Hilary Mantel
Create image

“And if a diversion is needed, why not arrest a general? Arthur Dillon is a friend of eminent deputies, a contender for the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Front; he has proved himself at Valmy and in a halfdozen actions since. In the National Assembly he was a liberal; now he is a republican. Isn't it then logical that he should be thrown into gaol, July 1, on suspicion of passing military secrets to the enemy?”

IfsShouldActionSecretEnemyMilitaryFrontsNeededRepublicanPassingPassingsChiefsPostsThrownLogicalWhy NotSuspicionCommandersJulyAssemblyArthurDiversionCommander In ChiefDeputies
Author:Hilary Mantel
Create image