I would have been a disaster as a career politician. I would never have toed a party line.

Sometimes you buy a book, powerfully drawn to it, but then it just sits on the shelf. Maybe you flick through it, the ghost of your original purpose at your elbow, but it's not so much rereading as re-dusting. Then one day you pick it up, take notice of the contents; your inner life realigns.

The more history I learnt, the less interested I got in winning arguments and the more interested in establishing the truth.

Hilary Mantel Quotes