“The main thing is, the constraints have come off style. What we are saying now is that the Revolution does not proceed… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“Ask Robespierre. Ask the man with the conscience which is more important, your friend or your country— ask him how he weighs… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“The Robespierre women (as one tended to think of them now) were all on display. Madame looked actively, rather intimidatingly benevolent; it… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“You must, of course. Robespierre doesn’t lie or cheat or steal, doesn’t get drunk, doesn’t fornicate—overmuch. He’s not a hedonist or a… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“Some people know they are condemned; some have time to pray, and others die struggling and screaming, fighting to their last breath.… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“I think back to those days after the Bastille fell, the Mercure Nationale run from the back of the shop, that little… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“Collot is back from Lyon, did you know? He had finished his work, as he describes it. His path of righteousness is… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“Georges told me he would be back, and I have no reason to disbelieve him—but perhaps you’d like to sit down here… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“Who are the Brissotins? A good question. You see, if you accuse people of a crime (for example, and especially, conspiracy) and… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“It’s all right for you, you and Danton. I have to go and stutter for two hours at the Jacobins and probably… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“With France as she is, poor and unarmed, war means defeat. Defeat means either a military dictator who will salvage what he… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“He stepped back, looked up. Cut into the stone above his head were the words RUE MARAT. For a moment he had… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“...and I sometimes think that the fading out of the individual personality is what one should desire, not the status of a… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“Suppose he found that persistent unsparing voice at his elbow one day, claiming that Danton lacked probity; he had an answer, pat,… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“Hérault, Fabre thinks: and his mind drifts back—as it tends to, these days— to the Café du Foy. He’d been giving readings… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“I resent you—” Robespierre said. His words were lost. “The People,” he shouted, “are everywhere good, and if they obstruct the Revolution—even,… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
Cravats grow higher, as if they mean to protect the throat. The highest cravats in public life will be worn by Citizen… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“Good morning,” she said. “Are you drunk?” She noticed what a split second it took for him to flare into aggression. “Do… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“This may interest you. A letter from my dear cousin Fouquier-Tinville.” Camille cast an eye over his relative’s best handwriting. “Squirm, flattery,… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
“Messengers wait outside the door, to carry urgent orders for release. It is difficult, when the pen skips over a name, to… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share Image
People will identify with a persecuted minority without asking themselves what they are identifying with. — Hilary Mantel Copy Share
“The hunter is among the most innocent of men; living in the moment makes him feel pure. When he returns in the evening, his… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share
“But what would happen … I mean, what would be so awful … if they did meet up?” “Why, it would be like the… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share
When you have committed enough words to paper, you feel you have a spine stiff enough to stand up in the wind. But when… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share
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… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share
“The story of my own childhood is a complicated sentence that I am always trying to finish, to finish and put behind me. It… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share
“He wants to say, because Anne is not a carnal being, she is a calculating being, with a cold slick brain at work behind… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share
“Come to that, don't pay out good money for horoscopes. If things are going to go badly for you, is that what you need… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share
“But my sins are my strength, he thinks; the sins I have done, that others have not even found the opportunity of committing. I… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share
“Mirabeau: “If you have been told to clear us from this hall, you must ask for orders to use force. We shall leave our… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share
“Cardinal Campeggio has implored Katherine to bow to the king's will, accept that her marriage is invalid and retire to a convent. Certainly, she… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share
“Sion calls Anne an eel, he calls her a slippery dipper from the slime, and he remembers what the cardinal had called her: my… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share
I spend a great deal of time on research, on finding all the available accounts of a scene or incident, finding out all the… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share
“At the front, people die for their mistakes. Why should politicians be more gently treated? They made the war. They deserve a dozen deaths,… — Hilary Mantel Copy Share
