“ He is not a man wedded to action, Boleyn, but rather a man who stands by, smirking and stroking his beard; he thinks he looks enigmatic, but instead he looks as if he's pleasuring himself. Hilary Mantel
“ He has always rated Anne highly as a strategist. He has never believed in her as a passionate, spontaneous woman. Everything she does is calculated, like everything he does. Hilary Mantel
“ He feels as if he is floating, and she is weighting him to earth; he would like to put his arms around her and his face in her apron, and rest there listening to her heartbeat. But he doesn't want to… Hilary Mantel
“ He can see that, in the years ahead, treason will take new and various forms. When the last treason act was made, no one could circulate their words in a printed book or bill, because printed books we… Hilary Mantel
“ But just as everything was going along politely, quietly and wonderfully — in poured Citizen Danton and his crew. Hilary Mantel
“ As I am a woman, I am the means by which sin enters this world. I am the devil’s gateway, the cursed ingress. I am the means by which Satan attacks the man, whom he was not bold enough to attack, exce… Hilary Mantel
“ A shock will do it, he said, or strong emotion, strong emotion of any sort. It can be horror. Or disgust. But, then again, it doesn’t have to be. Sometimes, he said, people die laughing. Hilary Mantel
“ A pottery outside Paris was turning out his picture on thick glazed crockery in a strident yellow and blue. This is what happens when you become a public figure; people eat their dinners off you. Hilary Mantel
“ You learn nothing about men by snubbing them and crushing their pride. You must ask them what it is they can do in this world, that they alone can do. Hilary Mantel
“ Why does everything you know, and everything you’ve learned, confirm you in what you believed before? Whereas in my case, what I grew up with, and what I thought I believed, is chipped away a little a… Hilary Mantel
“ We may be tainted with pragmatism, but it only needs a clash of personalities to remind us of our principles. Hilary Mantel
“ This visit has compacted the court's quarrels and intrigues, trapped them in the small space within the town's walls. The travelers have become as intimate with each other as cards in a pack: contiguo… Hilary Mantel
“ This relentless bonhomie of yours, I knew it would wear out in the end. It is a coin that has changed hands so often. And now the small silver is worn out and we see the base metal. Hilary Mantel
“ They say that at Thomas More’s trial, Master Secretary here followed the jury to their deliberations, and when they were seated he closed the door behind him and he laid down the law. Let me put you o… Hilary Mantel
“ These are days of brutal truth from Tyndale. Saints are not your friends and they will not protect you. They cannot help you to salvation. You cannot engage them to your service with prayers and candl… Hilary Mantel
“ There are codes so subtle that they change their whole meaning in half a line, or in a syllable, or in a pause, a caesura. Hilary Mantel
“ The wine is one of those big, noble wines that Brandon favours, and Chapuys drinks appreciatively and says I don't understand it, nothing do I understand in this benighted country. Is Cranmer Pope now… Hilary Mantel
“ The authorities in Yorkshire have rounded up their rioters, and divided them into those to be charged with affray and manslaughter, and those to be indicted for murder and rape. Rape? Since when do fo… Hilary Mantel
