Hilary Mantel Quotes

“Last night he kept the vigil alone. He lay awake, wishing Liz back; waiting for her to come and lie beside him. It's true he is at Esher with the cardinal, not at home at the Austin Friars. But, he thought, she'll know how to find me. She'll look for the cardinal, drawn through the space between worlds by incense and candlelight. Whereever the cardinal is, I will be.”

“Justice is the cardinal virtue of peace.”

“To err is human, to forgive is divine... but I’m only a cardinal and cardinals are human, so rather than forgiving you I’m going to err towards beating you with this stick.”

“The worth of a society is genuine if established on cardinal law of kingdom–love”

“Be very, very careful what you put in that head, because you will never, ever get it out.”

“He said to the cardinal, "I'm a peasant, not instructed in the ways of heaven. But I have never broken my word. And you, a Cardinal of the Catholic Church, with all your holy garments and crosses of Jesus, lied to me like a heathen Moor. Your sacred office alone will not save your life.”

“Today, you can pick your own news. At no time has the world been this compatible with apathy.”

“Impatience is the cardinal sin of youth.”

“Carry on any enterprise as if all future success depended on it.”

“To know how to dissimulate is the knowledge of kings.”