Category - Hilary Mantel

Discover the thoughtful and inspirational Quotes of Hilary Mantel, a philosopher and author. Our collection of his most impactful quotes reflects his deep understanding of language, philosophy, and history.
Whether seeking thought-provoking reflections or academic wisdom, Hilary Mantels words offer a rich source of intellectual inspiration. #HilaryMantel Hilary Mantel Motivational Quotes of Hilary Mantel

Hilary Mantel

I would have been a disaster as a career politician. I would never have toed a party line.

– Hilary Mantel

Hilary Mantel

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

– Hilary Mantel

Hilary Mantel

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

– Hilary Mantel

Hilary Mantel

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

Hilary Mantel

I didn’t cry much after I was 35, but staggered stony-faced into middle age, a handkerchief still in my bag just in case.

– Hilary Mantel

Hilary Mantel

What really disconcerts commentators, I suspect, is that when they read historical fiction, they feel their own lack of education may be exposed; they panic, because they don’t know which bits are true.

– Hilary Mantel

Hilary Mantel

The old always think the world is getting worse; it is for the young, equipped with historical facts, to point out that, compared with 1509, or even 1939, life in 2009 is sweet as honey.

– Hilary Mantel

Hilary Mantel

Like every writer, I’m drawn by unlikely juxtapositions, precisely-dated and once-only collisions between people from different worlds.

– Hilary Mantel

Hilary Mantel

Concentrate your narrative energy on the point of change. This is especially important for historical fiction. When your character is new to a place, or things alter around them, that’s the point to step back and fill in the details of their world.

– Hilary Mantel

Hilary Mantel

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

Hilary Mantel

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

Hilary Mantel

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

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