Thomas Cromwell Quotes

“There's a feeling of power in reserve, a power that drives right through the bone, like the shiver you sense in the shaft of an axe when you take it into your hand. 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, Wolf Hall

“He knows different now. It's the living that chase the dead. The long bones and skulls are tumbled from their shrouds, and words like stones thrust into their rattling mouths: we edit their writings, we rewrite their lives. Thomas More had spread the rumor that Little Bilney, chained to the stake, had recanted as the fire was set. It wasn't enough for him to take Bilney's life away; he had to take his death too.”
― Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall

“In the forest you may find yourself lost, without companions. You may come to a river which is not on a map. You may lose sight of your quarry, and forget why you are there. You may meet a dwarf, or the living Christ, or an old enemy of yours; or a new enemy, one you do not know until you see his face appear between the rustling leaves, and see the glint of his dagger. You may find a woman asleep in a bower of leaves. For a moment, before you don’t recognise her, you will think she is someone you know.”
― Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall

“Those who think a heart cannot break have led blessed and sheltered lives.”
― Hilary Mantel, The Mirror & the Light

“Everybody wants something, if only for the pain to stop.”
― Hilary Mantel, The Mirror & the Light

“So now get up.'

Felled, dazed, silent, he has fallen; knocked full length on the cobbles of the yard. His head turns sideways; his eyes are turned toward the gate, as if someone might arrive to help him out. One blow, properly placed, could kill him now.”
― Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall

“I picked up a snake once. In Italy."
"Why did you do that?"
"For a bet."
"Was it poisonous?"
"We didn't know. That was the point of the bet."
"Did it bite you?"
"Of course."
"Why of course?"
"It wouldn't be much of a story, would it? If I'd put it down unharmed, and away it slid?”
― Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall

“I think, if you're going to kill a man, do it. Don't write him a letter about it. Don't bluster and threaten and put him on his guard.”
― Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall

“When the cardinal came to a closed door he would flatter it--oh beautiful yielding door! Then he would try tricking it open. And you are just the same, just the same." He pours himself some of the duke's present. "But in the last resort, you just kick it in.”
― Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall

“The gift blesses the giver.”
― Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall

“His suppressed grief becomes anger. But what can he do with anger? It must also be suppressed.”
― Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall

“No son wishes to see his son less powerful than himself.”
― Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall

“Henry stirs into life. 'Do I retain you for what is easy? Do you think it is for your personal beauty? The charm of your presence? I keep you, Master Cromwell, because you are as cunning as a bag of serpents. But do not be a viper in my bosom. You know my decision. Execute it.'
pg. 585”
― Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall

“Every time you go to see Hamlet you don't expect it to have a happy ending...you're still enthralled.
(Interview BBC Radio 4 Today 17 October 2012.)”
― Hilary Mantel

“You can persuade the quick to think again, but you cannot remake your reputation with the dead.”
― Hilary Mantel, The Mirror & the Light

“Fantasy is unconstrained by truth.”
― Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall

“This man was no pampered gentleman, born to a life of softness. No, this man was a brawler, a scrapper, a street fighter. A survivor.”
― V.E. Lynne, Ambition's Queen

“Those who fail the king do not die in their beds.”
― V.E. Lynne, Ambition's Queen

“He thinks of making his fortune. We all know that money sticks to yours hands.
No, It passes through them, alas.”
― Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall

“Be reasonable, my lord. Once you.ve done it, you'll want to do it all the time. For about three years. That's the way it goes. And your father has other work in mind for you.”
― Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall

“You know he will take the credit for your good ideas, and you the blame for his bad ones? When fortune turns against you, you will feel her lash: you always, he never.
One day, when you are still adjusting your harness, you will look up and see him thundering downhill.”
― Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall

“But we glared into each other's eyes like men who have ruined each other already, and who only wait to make the full disaster known”
― M.T. Anderson, Fatal Throne

“Told me if I did not smell of the fire then I smelled of the frying pan.”
― Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall

“Di che natura è il limite fra la verità e la menzogna? È permeabile e sfocato, poiché è disseminato di voci, dicerie, malintesi e storie alterate. La verità può buttare giù i cancelli, può urlare per strada; se però non è piacevole, gradita e facile da accettare, è condannata a piagnucolare davanti alla porta di servizio.”
― Hilary Mantel , Bring Up the Bodies

“Il re si siede e comincia a parlare, a sproloquiare. In quegli ultimi dieci anni e più Anna lo ha preso per mano e lo ha portato nella foresta. Lì, al margine del bosco, dove la luce del giorno si frantuma e filtra tra il verde, lui ha perso il senno, l'innocenza. Anna si è fatta rincorrere tutto il giorno, finché lui tremava sfinito, eppure non riusciva a fermarsi neanche per riprendere fiato, non poteva tornare indietro, aveva perso la strada. L'ha inseguita fino al tramonto, l'ha cercata alla luce delle torce. Poi lei gli si è scagliata contro, ha spento le torce e l'ha lasciato da solo nel buio.”
― Hilary Mantel, Bring Up the Bodies

“He touches his throat, where the medal would have been, the holy medal that Kat gave him; his fingers are surprised not to find it there. For the first time he understands why he took it off and slid it into the sea. It was so that no living hand could take it. The waves took it, and the waves have it still.”
― Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall: A Novel