Hilary Mantel (Dame Hilary Mary Mantel) Quotes
One of the frustrations of someone like Thomas Cromwell is that, before they step into the light of history, and become extremely well documented, they are not known. A king might be well documented but not everyone.

Quotes to Explore
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The loss of life will be irreplaceable.
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I don't really think about what's 'age appropriate' for my audience because I think they can handle quite a bit, but I do try to think about what's honest and true to my characters who have grown up in situations where they've been taught to handle these things very carefully and that they're very powerful.
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The real war will never get in the books.
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I still write in long hand. I type like a chimpanzee.
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How can I wage political battle against a widow who does not mean anyone any harm except only the president himself?
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It's just not my nature to go around idolizing people.
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We are quite at ease in this no man's land of ignorance and doubt and dispute, absorbed in the ambiguities of trying to reach truth by mixing fact with invention.
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There are some musicians who are talented and see themselves as some kind of natural geniuses or something because of a certain amount of natural ability. But that is often rarely the case over the long term.
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Such a gift might be easily taken back again.
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I got picked for very unique and independent filmmaking experiences with auteurs. And I'm so lucky.
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Anthropomorphic animals, when taken out of narrative into actual visibility, always turn into buffoonery or nightmare.
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Apparently, the city of Delhi is a 'character' in my novels. I'd argue that it's a ... city... in my novels.
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I've led this empty life for over forty years and now I can pass that heritage on and ensure that the misery will continue for at least one more generation.
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Vainglory, however, no matter how much medieval Christianity insisted it was a sin, is a motor of mankind, no more eradicable than sex. As long as combat was desirable as the source of honor and glory, the knight had no wish to share it with the commoner, even for the sake of success.
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But I have seen my obstacles: trivialities, learning and poetry. This last needs explaining: the old artist's readiness to dissolve characters into a haze. Characters cannot come alive and fight and guide the world unless the novelist wants them to remain characters.
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Katie commented that Americans had lost the ability to enjoy themselves.'We watch television,' Dave said.
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Well it is. It is a religion with me. It's a way of life. A religion is a way of life, isn't it?
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I don't think that modesty is the outstanding characteristic of contemporary politics, do you?'
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I think writers need windows on a view to remind them that a whole world is out there, not the minutiae with which they might be dealing on a close scale.
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It would be very easy for us to do a collection that everybody would like and not criticize. But criticism is a part of life. You have to take it.
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I eat a light but sustaining dinner before the show: a bunch of greens and some non-gluten quinoa or rice. I'll have a snack at intermission. I'm trying so hard not to have meals after the show because it's so late, but sometimes I just want a big bowl of pasta.
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I knew all about Edward VIII's abdication, George VI becoming the king and having a stammer, but nothing about how he got rid of it.
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One of the frustrations of someone like Thomas Cromwell is that, before they step into the light of history, and become extremely well documented, they are not known. A king might be well documented but not everyone.