“ It’s all right for you, you and Danton. I have to go and stutter for two hours at the Jacobins and probably be knocked down again by maddened violin makers and trampled by all sorts of tradesmen.Whils… Hilary Mantel
“ How many men can say, as I must, 'I am a man whose only friend is the King of England'? I have everything, you would think. And yet take Henry away, and I have nothing. Hilary Mantel
“ Henry glares at him. I will say this for you. You stick by your man. I have never had anything from the cardinal other than kindness. Why would I not? Hilary Mantel
“ Do you know you can learn from pain?’ But, he explains, the circumstances must be right. To learn, you must have a future: Hilary Mantel
“ At the front, people die for their mistakes. Why should politicians be more gently treated? They made the war. They deserve a dozen deaths, each of them. What can we try them for, except for treason,… Hilary Mantel
“ And if a diversion is needed, why not arrest a general? Arthur Dillon is a friend of eminent deputies, a contender for the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Northern Front; he has proved himself at Va… Hilary Mantel
“ 1776: A declaration of the Parlement of Paris:The first rule of justice is to conserve for each individual that which belongs to him. This is a fundamental rule of natural law, human rights and civil… Hilary Mantel
“ The old always think the world is getting worse; it is for the young, equipped with historical facts, to point out that, compared with 1509, or even 1939, life in 2009 is sweet as honey. Hilary Mantel
“ You are familiar, no doubt, with Sebastiano del Piombo's huge painting The Raising of Lazarus, which hangs in the National Gallery in London, having been purchased in the last century from the Angerst… Hilary Mantel
“ When a man admits guilt we have to believe him. We cannot set ourselves to proving to him that he is wrong. Otherwise the law courts would never function. Hilary Mantel
“ Some people know they are condemned; some have time to pray, and others die struggling and screaming, fighting to their last breath. An irate killer stamps in to the tribunal—Use your heads, give us a… Hilary Mantel
“ Saint-Just read for the next two hours his report on the plots of the Dantonist faction. He had imagined, when he wrote it, that he had the accused man before him; he had not amended it. If Danton wer… Hilary Mantel
“ Law of Suspects. Suspects are those: who have in any way aided tyranny (royal tyranny, Brissotin tyranny...); who cannot show that they have performed their civic duties; who do not starve, and yet ha… Hilary Mantel
“ It's just that you are practiced at persuading, and sometimes it's quite difficult, sir to distinguish being persuaded by you from being knocked down in street and stamped on.Pg.406 Hilary Mantel
“ Innocence is a bleeding wound without a bandage, a wound that opens with every casual knock from casual passers-by. Experience is an armour. Hilary Mantel
“ If your chance comes to serve, you will have to take him as he is, a pleasure-loving prince. And he will have to take you as you are, which is rather like one of those square-shaped fighting dogs that… Hilary Mantel
