“ And your man?' He hesitates. 'Long dead too?' It is the most delicate way that can be contrived, to ask a man if he has killed someone. Hilary Mantel
“ And beneath Cornwall, beyond and beneath this whole realm of England, beneath the sodden marshes of Wales and the rough territory of the Scots border, there is another landscape; there is a buried emp… Hilary Mantel
“ A man's power is in the half-light, in the half-seen movements of his hand and the unguessed-at expression of his face. It is the absence of facts tat frightens people: the gap you open, into which th… Hilary Mantel
“ Young Surrey now lays down his knife and begins to complain. Noblemen, he laments, are not respected as they were in the days when England was great. The present king keeps about himself a collection… Hilary Mantel
“ You mustn't stand about. Come home with me to dinner.’‘No.’ More shakes his head. ‘I would rather be blown around on the river and go home hungry. If I could trust you only to put food in my mouth – b… Hilary Mantel
“ You can strike, or you can not strike, and if you choose to hold back the blow, you can still feel inside you the resonance of the omitted thing. Hilary Mantel
“ The world moves on so fast, and we lose all chance of being the women our mothers were; we lose all understanding of what shaped them. Hilary Mantel
“ Suppose within each book there is another book, and within every letter on every page another volume constantly unfolding; but these volumes take no space on the desk. Suppose knowledge could be reduc… Hilary Mantel
“ Some said the world would end in 1533. Last year had its adherents too. Why not this year? There is always somebody ready to claim that these are the end times, and nominate his neighbor as the Antich… 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 serpentine enemy. Sion says, she goes to it with her brother; he says, what… Hilary Mantel
“ Richard goes with a bob of the head but without another word. It seems he interprets 'don't tell anybody' as 'don't tell anybody but Rafe', because ten minutes later Rafe comes in, and stands looking… Hilary Mantel
“ Rafe asks him, could the king's freedom be obtained, sir, with more economy of means? Less bloodshed?Look, he says: once you have exhausted the process of negotiation and compromise, one you have fixe… Hilary Mantel
“ On March 8 Danton mounted the tribune of the Convention. The patriots never forgot the shock of his sudden appearance, nor his face, harrowed by sleepless nights and the exhaustion of traveling, palli… Hilary Mantel
“ Oh, you are not disappointing, Henry says. But the moment you are, I will let you know. Hilary Mantel
“ Not a word, not a word of love, Prehaps, she thought, he does not love in the ordinary way. God loves us, after all, He manifests it in cancer, cholera, Siamese twins. Not all forms of love are compre… Hilary Mantel
“ Martyr More,’ he says. ‘The word is in Rome that he and Fisher are to be made saints. Hilary Mantel
“ Jane says, ‘He asked me if I would be his good mistress.’ They exchange glances. There is a difference between a mistress and a good mistress: does Jane know that? The first implies concubinage. The s… Hilary Mantel
“ It’s not easy to speak of nonexistence, even if you’ve already commissioned your tomb. Hilary Mantel
“ It doesn’t matter what the terms are, just that there are terms. It’s the goodwill that matters. When that runs out, the treaty is broken, whatever the terms say. Hilary Mantel
“ Intrigue feeds on itself; conspiracies have neither mother nor father, and yet they thrive: the only thing to know is that no one knows anything. Though Hilary Mantel
