He says in his defense he never meddled with married women, only with virgins.

— Hilary Mantel

His suppressed grief becomes anger. But what can he do with anger? It must also be suppressed.

— Hilary Mantel

History is always changing behind us, and the past changes a little every time we retell it.

— Hilary Mantel

History is not the past – it is the method we have evolved of organizing our ignorance of the past

— Hilary Mantel

History offers us vicarious experience. It allows the youngest student to possess the ground equally with his elders; without a knowledge of history to give him a context for present events, he is at the mercy of every social misdiagnosis handed to him.

— Hilary Mantel

How many men can say, as I must, 'I am a man whose only friend is the King of England'? I have everything, you would think. And yet take Henry away, and I have nothing.

— Hilary Mantel

I aim to make the fiction flexible so that it bends itself around the facts as we have them. Otherwise, I don’t see the point. Nobody seems to understand that. Nobody seems to share my approach to historical fiction. I suppose if I have a maxim, it is that there isn’t any necessary conflict between good history and good drama.

— Hilary Mantel

I daresay something will happen, between now and ’91, to make your fortunes look up.

— Hilary Mantel

I didn't cry much after I was 35, but staggered stony-faced into middle age, a handkerchief still in my bag just in case.

— Hilary Mantel

If Mary's blood is Spanish, at least it is royal. And at least she can walk straight and has control of her bowels.

— Hilary Mantel