--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: When it was time to write, and he took…" description: "\"“When it was time to write, and he took his pen in his hand, he never thought of consequences; he thought of style. I wonder why I ever bothered with s..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f68/hilary-mantel-440_time_when-it-was-time-to-write-and-he-took-hi_1604532.jpg" --- # When it was time to write, and he took his pen in his… ![“When it was time to write, and he took his pen in his hand, he never thought of consequences; he thought of style. I wonder why I ever bothered with sex, he thought; there's nothing in this breathing world so gratifying as an artfully placed semicolon.” quote by Hilary Mantel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f68/hilary-mantel-440_time_when-it-was-time-to-write-and-he-took-hi_1604532.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f68/hilary-mantel-440_time_when-it-was-time-to-write-and-he-took-hi_1604532.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/f68/hilary-mantel-440_time_when-it-was-time-to-write-and-he-took-hi_1604532.jpg) > ““When it was time to write, and he took his pen in his hand, he never thought of consequences; he thought of style. I wonder why I ever bothered with sex, he thought; there's nothing in this breathing world so gratifying as an artfully placed semicolon.”” [Hilary Mantel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-mantel/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The author prioritizes artistic style over consequences, valuing the craft of writing above all else. **In simple terms:** Style over consequences in writing. Key Takeaway Focus on craft, not outcomes. Themes creativity style artistry Mood introspective analytical Type literary philosophical When to use this quote - novel drafting - editing - creative workshops Key Concepts literature writing discipline Questions to Reflect On - How does style influence reader experience? - When is it okay to ignore consequences? A Different Perspective Neglecting impact can be selfish. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Semicolon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/semicolon/) [Time](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/time/) [Writer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writer/) [Writing](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/writing/) ## Related quotes > [“I wonder why I ever bothered with sex, he thought; there’s nothing in this breathing world so gratifying as an artfully placed semicolon.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/camille-desmoulins/i-wonder-why-i-ever-bothered-with-sex-he-thought-there-s-nothing-in/) [Camille Desmoulins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/camille-desmoulins/) > [Whenever I sat down to write something it was never anything I took lightly. It was something that I'd want you, somebody in Japan,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rakim/whenever-i-sat-down-to-write-something-it-was-never-anything-i-took/) [Rakim](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rakim/) > [To write it, it took three months; to conceive it three minutes; to collect the data in it all my life.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/f-scott-fitzgerald/to-write-it-it-took-three-months-to-conceive-it-three-minutes-to/) [F. Scott Fitzgerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/f-scott-fitzgerald/) > [Freedom begins the moment you realize someone else has been writing your story and it's time you took the pen from his hand and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-moyers/freedom-begins-the-moment-you-realize-someone-else-has-been-writing/) [Bill Moyers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-moyers/) > [PLAGIARIZE, v. To take the thought or style of another writer whom one has never, never read.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/plagiarize-v-to-take-the-thought-or-style-of-another-writer-whom-one/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) > [The science of style as an organ of thought, of style in relation to the ideas and feelings, might be called the organology of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-de-quincey/the-science-of-style-as-an-organ-of-thought-of-style-in-relation-to/) [Thomas de Quincey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-de-quincey/) > [I don't really know if I am thought of as a style icon. I don't feel like that at all. Music comes first, but…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/roisin-murphy/i-don-t-really-know-if-i-am-thought-of-as-a-style-icon-i-don-t-feel/) [Roisin Murphy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/roisin-murphy/) > [If we define 'thought collective' as a community of persons mutually exchanging ideas or maintaining intellectual interaction, we will find by implication that it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ludwik-fleck/if-we-define-thought-collective-as-a-community-of-persons-mutually/) [Ludwik Fleck](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ludwik-fleck/) > [Oddly enough, I suppose, I don't give much thought to my style, and I don't attempt to be consistent - except within a story.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/phoebe-gloeckner/oddly-enough-i-suppose-i-don-t-give-much-thought-to-my-style-and-i/) [Phoebe Gloeckner](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/phoebe-gloeckner/) > [In the Orient the ultimate divine mystery is sought beyond all human categories of thought and feeling, beyond names and forms, and absolutely beyond…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joseph-campbell/in-the-orient-the-ultimate-divine-mystery-is-sought-beyond-all-human/) [Joseph Campbell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joseph-campbell/) > [Sorrow, it is said, will make even an oyster feel poetical. I never tried my hand at that sort of writing but on this…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/davy-crockett/sorrow-it-is-said-will-make-even-an-oyster-feel-poetical-i-never/) [Davy Crockett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/davy-crockett/) > [“He wrote because he liked to write; he did not abridge, because he cared not to abridge. He sat down, he took pen and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charlotte-bronte/he-wrote-because-he-liked-to-write-he-did-not-abridge-because-he/) [Charlotte Brontë](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charlotte-bronte/) > [I was working in this very bombastic style. I didn’t really know about style. I didn’t think about it: I did what I was…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-lachapelle/i-was-working-in-this-very-bombastic-style-i-didn-t-really-know-about/) [David LaChapelle](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-lachapelle/) > [“He took the pen and book from her and faltered. “Just write anything – anything trivial that won't matter if it comes to pass.”…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dianna-hardy/he-took-the-pen-and-book-from-her-and-faltered-just-write-anything/) [Dianna Hardy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dianna-hardy/) > [“At the beginning he’d thought of his style as being his essence, the perfect expression of who he was inside, but lately the styles…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jennifer-egan/at-the-beginning-he-d-thought-of-his-style-as-being-his-essence-the/) [Jennifer Egan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jennifer-egan/) ## More by Hilary Mantel > [People will identify with a persecuted minority without asking themselves what they are identifying with.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-mantel/people-will-identify-with-a-persecuted-minority-without-asking/) [Hilary Mantel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-mantel/) > [“The hunter is among the most innocent of men; living in the moment makes him feel pure. When he returns in the evening, his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-mantel/the-hunter-is-among-the-most-innocent-of-men-living-in-the-moment/) [Hilary Mantel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-mantel/) > [“But what would happen … I mean, what would be so awful … if they did meet up?” “Why, it would be like the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-mantel/but-what-would-happen-i-mean-what-would-be-so-awful-if-they-did-meet/) [Hilary Mantel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-mantel/) > [When you have committed enough words to paper, you feel you have a spine stiff enough to stand up in the wind. But when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-mantel/when-you-have-committed-enough-words-to-paper-you-feel-you-have-a/) [Hilary Mantel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-mantel/) > [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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-mantel/at-new-year-s-he-had-given-anne-a-present-of-silver-forks-with/) [Hilary Mantel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-mantel/) > [“The story of my own childhood is a complicated sentence that I am always trying to finish, to finish and put behind me. It…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-mantel/the-story-of-my-own-childhood-is-a-complicated-sentence-that-i-am/) [Hilary Mantel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-mantel/) > [“He wants to say, because Anne is not a carnal being, she is a calculating being, with a cold slick brain at work behind…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-mantel/he-wants-to-say-because-anne-is-not-a-carnal-being-she-is-a/) [Hilary Mantel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-mantel/) > [“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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-mantel/come-to-that-don-t-pay-out-good-money-for-horoscopes-if-things-are/) [Hilary Mantel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-mantel/) > [“But my sins are my strength, he thinks; the sins I have done, that others have not even found the opportunity of committing. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-mantel/but-my-sins-are-my-strength-he-thinks-the-sins-i-have-done-that/) [Hilary Mantel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-mantel/) > [Feminism hasn't failed, it's just never been tried.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-mantel/feminism-hasn-t-failed-it-s-just-never-been-tried/) [Hilary Mantel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-mantel/) > [“Mirabeau: “If you have been told to clear us from this hall, you must ask for orders to use force. We shall leave our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-mantel/mirabeau-if-you-have-been-told-to-clear-us-from-this-hall-you-must/) [Hilary Mantel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-mantel/) > [“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…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-mantel/cardinal-campeggio-has-implored-katherine-to-bow-to-the-king-s-will/) [Hilary Mantel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-mantel/) > [“Sion calls Anne an eel, he calls her a slippery dipper from the slime, and he remembers what the cardinal had called her: my…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-mantel/sion-calls-anne-an-eel-he-calls-her-a-slippery-dipper-from-the-slime/) [Hilary Mantel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-mantel/) > [I spend a great deal of time on research, on finding all the available accounts of a scene or incident, finding out all the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-mantel/i-spend-a-great-deal-of-time-on-research-on-finding-all-the-available/) [Hilary Mantel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-mantel/) > [“At the front, people die for their mistakes. Why should politicians be more gently treated? They made the war. They deserve a dozen deaths,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hilary-mantel/at-the-front-people-die-for-their-mistakes-why-should-politicians-be/) [Hilary Mantel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-mantel/) [Explore all 559 Hilary Mantel quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hilary-mantel/) ## More Semicolon quotes > [“You didn’t put a semicolon there — God did.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eleanor-brownn/you-didn-t-put-a-semicolon-there-god-did/) [Eleanor Brownn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eleanor-brownn/) > [“Stay Strong. Love endlessly. Change Lives.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amy-bleuel/stay-strong-love-endlessly-change-lives/) Amy Bleuel > [A comma . . . catches the gentle drift of the mind in thought, turning in on itself and back on itself, reversing, redoubling,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pico-iyer/a-comma-catches-the-gentle-drift-of-the-mind-in-thought-turning-in-on/) [Pico Iyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pico-iyer/) > [Syntactic sugar causes cancer of the semicolon.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-perlis/syntactic-sugar-causes-cancer-of-the-semicolon/) [Alan Perlis](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-perlis/) > [“The semicolon, my friends, is the punctuation mark we use to join two complete sentences. When we want to separate two complete sentences, we…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenny-baranick/the-semicolon-my-friends-is-the-punctuation-mark-we-use-to-join-two/) [Jenny Baranick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenny-baranick/) > [“Academics love the semicolon; their hankering after logic demands a division which is more emphatic than a comma, but not quite as absolute a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victor-klemperer/academics-love-the-semicolon-their-hankering-after-logic-demands-a/) [Victor Klemperer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victor-klemperer/) > [How hideous is the semicolon.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/samuel-beckett/how-hideous-is-the-semicolon/) [Samuel Beckett](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/samuel-beckett/) > [Sometimes you get a glimpse of a semicolon coming, a few lines farther on, and it is like climbing a steep path through woods…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/sometimes-you-get-a-glimpse-of-a-semicolon-coming-a-few-lines-farther/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [“The American writer Donald Barthelme wrote that the semicolon is “ugly, ugly as a tick on a dog’s belly”.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lynne-truss/the-american-writer-donald-barthelme-wrote-that-the-semicolon-is-ugly/) [Lynne Truss](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lynne-truss/) > [“The stops point out, with truth, the time of pause A sentence doth require at ev'ry clause. t ev'ry comma, stop while one you…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cecil-hartley/the-stops-point-out-with-truth-the-time-of-pause-a-sentence-doth/) Cecil Hartley > [It is almost always a greater pleasure to come across a semicolon than a period. The period tells you that that is that; if…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lewis-thomas/it-is-almost-always-a-greater-pleasure-to-come-across-a-semicolon/) [Lewis Thomas](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lewis-thomas/) > [“Nora— Forgive me for copyediting, but it must be said—you have raped the semicolon yet again. Stop it. It wasn’t asking for it no…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tiffany-reisz/nora-forgive-me-for-copyediting-but-it-must-be-said-you-have-raped/) [Tiffany Reisz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tiffany-reisz/) > [Semicolons . . . signal, rather than shout, a relationship. . . . A semicolon is a compliment from the writer to the reader.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-will/semicolons-signal-rather-than-shout-a-relationship-a-semicolon-is-a/) [George Will](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-will/) > [“We might also want to use a semicolon to hold together two sentences to avoid giving the reader too much time to think about…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jenny-baranick/we-might-also-want-to-use-a-semicolon-to-hold-together-two-sentences/) [Jenny Baranick](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jenny-baranick/) > [I use a whole lot of half-assed semicolons; there was one of them just now; that was a semicolon after 'semicolons,' and another one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ursula-k-le-guin/i-use-a-whole-lot-of-half-assed-semicolons-there-was-one-of-them-just/) [Ursula K. Le Guin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ursula-k-le-guin/) [Browse all 37 Semicolon quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/semicolon/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“When it was time to write, and he took his pen in his hand, he never thought of consequences; he thought of style. 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