Hilary Mantel Years Quotations

Back in my 20s, when I wrote 'A Place of Greater Safety,' the French Revolution novel, I thought, 'I'll always have to write historical novels because I can't do plots.'' But in the six years of writing that novel, I actually learned to write, to invent things.

'Show up at the desk' is one of the first rules of writing, but for 'Wolf Hall' I was about 30 years late.

So many years of preparation, for what was called adult life: was it for this?

It is all very well planning what you will do in six months, what you will do in a year, but it’s no good at all if you don’t have a plan for tomorrow.

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 eat with, not to stick in people.

You're only young once, they say, but doesn't it go on for a long time? More years than you can bear.