The more history I learnt, the less interested I got in winning arguments and the more interested in establishing the truth. — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
The old always think the world is getting worse; it is for the young, equipped with historical facts, to point out that,… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
I do myself think that history is a set of skills rather than a narrative. — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“He knows different now. It's the living that chase the dead. The long bones and skulls are tumbled from their shrouds, and… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
I am not a historian. I don't see what I do as being a rival to biography. — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“Account books form a narrative as engaging as any tale of sea monsters or cannibals.” — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“When you're writing historical fiction, you are always looking for the untold story. You're looking for what has been repressed politically, or… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
Like a historian, I interpret, select, discard, shape, simplify. Unlike a historian, I make up people's thoughts. — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
One of the frustrations of someone like Thomas Cromwell is that, before they step into the light of history, and become extremely… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
For me, it is about using everything that is there and using the gaps in the record, figuring out why the gaps… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
People will identify with a persecuted minority without asking themselves what they are identifying with. — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“The hunter is among the most innocent of men; living in the moment makes him feel pure. When he returns in the evening, his… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“But what would happen … I mean, what would be so awful … if they did meet up?” “Why, it would be like the… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
When you have committed enough words to paper, you feel you have a spine stiff enough to stand up in the wind. But when… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
At New Year's he had given Anne a present of silver forks with handles of rock crystal. He hopes she will use them to… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“The story of my own childhood is a complicated sentence that I am always trying to finish, to finish and put behind me. It… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“He wants to say, because Anne is not a carnal being, she is a calculating being, with a cold slick brain at work behind… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“Come to that, don't pay out good money for horoscopes. If things are going to go badly for you, is that what you need… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“But my sins are my strength, he thinks; the sins I have done, that others have not even found the opportunity of committing. I… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“Mirabeau: “If you have been told to clear us from this hall, you must ask for orders to use force. We shall leave our… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“Cardinal Campeggio has implored Katherine to bow to the king's will, accept that her marriage is invalid and retire to a convent. Certainly, she… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
