C.J. Sansom > Quotes

“In worshipping their nationhood men worship themselves and scorn others, and that is no healthy thing.”
― C.J. Sansom, Dissolution

“We of alien looks or words must stick together.”
― C.J. Sansom, Revelation

“Have you ever thought what a God would be like who actually ordained and executed the cruelty that is in [the biblical Book of Revelation]? A holocaust of mankind. Yet so many of these Bible-men accept the idea without a second thought.”
― C.J. Sansom, Revelation

“Like all lawyers, I was delighted by gratitude. It happened so rarely.”
― C.J. Sansom, Revelation

“It seems a universal rule in this world that people will always look for victims and scapegoats, does it not? Especially at times of difficulty and tension.”
― C.J. Sansom, Dissolution

“Whenever a party tells you national identity matters more than anything else in politics, that nationalism can sort out all the other problems, then watch out, because you’re on a road that can end with fascism.”
― C.J. Sansom, Dominion

“If I knocked and waited at every door, who knows what I might miss?”
― C.J. Sansom, Dissolution

“You untangle a knot with slow teasing, not sharp pulling, and believe me we have here a knot such as I have never seen. But I will unpick it. I will.”
― C.J. Sansom, Dissolution

“Man is an angry, savage being. Sometimes faith becomes an excuse for battle. It is no real faith then. In justifying their positions in the name of God, men silence God.”
― C.J. Sansom, Dark Fire

“Funny, when i was a little boy I wanted to be good. But I could never seem to manage it somehow. And if you're not good, the good people will throw you to the wolves. So you might as well just be bad”
― C.J. Sansom, Winter in Madrid

“...you should not insult yourself so, sir. Is there not enough suffering in the world?”
― C.J. Sansom, Dissolution

“Many [Tudor-era religious radicals] believed then, exactly as Christian fundamentalists do today, that they lived in the 'last days' before Armageddon and, again just as now, saw signs all around in the world that they took as certain proof that the Apocalypse was imminent. Again like fundamentalists today, they looked on the prospect of the violent destruction of mankind without turning a hair. The remarkable similarity between the first Tudor Puritans and the fanatics among today's Christian fundamentalists extends to their selective reading of the Bible, their emphasis on the Book of Revelation, their certainty of their rightness, even to their phraseology. Where the Book of Revelation is concerned, I share the view of Guy, that the early church fathers released something very dangerous on the world when, after much deliberation, they decided to include it in the Christian canon."

[From the author's concluding Historical Note]”
― C.J. Sansom, Revelation

“Around thrones the thunder rolls.”
― C.J. Sansom, Dissolution

“But if we never acted except when we were certain our motives were pure, we would never act at all.”
― C J Sansom

“How men fear the chaos of the world, I thought, and the yawning eternity hereafter. So we build patterns to explain its terrible mysteries and reassure ourselves we are safe in this world and beyond.”
― C.J. Sansom, Dissolution

“Truly, as the ancients taught us, there is nothing under the moon, however fine, that is not subject to corruption.”
― C J Sansom

“It has become a world of black and white, Matthew, a Manichean world where preachers encourage everyone to rush towards a conflict between good and evil. Each knowing, of course, that their own side is entirely in the right.”
― C.J. Sansom, Revelation

“This new world was no Christian commonwealth; it never would be. It was in truth no better than the old, no less ruled by power and vanity.”
― C.J. Sansom, Dissolution

“We used to think British people could never become Fascists, or Fascist collaborators. But they can. I suppose anybody can, given the right set of circumstances.”
― C.J. Sansom, Dominion

“If a ruler who wants to act honourably is surrounded by unscrupulous men, his downfall is inevitable.”
― C.J. Sansom, Dissolution

“But since printing came in no one wants illustrated works, they are happy with these cheap books with their ugly, square letters all squashed together.”
― C.J. Sansom, Dissolution

“The lives God gives to us, the awful things we can’t escape from. Sometimes I think that sort of God would enjoy making hell for us after we die.”
― C.J. Sansom, Dominion

“You sound as fierce against sin as Harsnet.’ He grinned. ‘Only sins I don’t feel drawn to myself,’ he said with a flash of his old humour. ‘ ’Tis always easy to condemn those.”
― C.J. Sansom, Revelation

“Six wives the King's had now.' Barak's words dragged me from my reverie. 'We can't even get one between us.”
― C.J. Sansom

“Never in England were there so many gentlemen and so little gentleness.”
― C.J. Sansom, Tombland

“Fanatics on both sides,’ old Ryprose said gloomily. ‘And all we poor ordinary folk in the middle. Sometimes I fear they will bring death to us all.”
― C.J. Sansom, Revelation

“It has driven men to extremes, to the impious arrogance of believing they alone can comprehend the vast mysteries of Scripture, let alone the mind of God. Such people are incapable of understanding even their own minds, for they confuse their own needs, for certainty or power, with God’s voice speaking to them.”
― C.J. Sansom, Revelation

“I took the book and glanced at the page Guy was reading. I quoted, ‘The rich man’s substance is the wellspring of the poor man’s living.' Ah yes, that theory, that as the rich grow richer their wealth trickles down to the poor like sand. Well, I have been practising law twenty-five years and all I have seen is it trickle ever upwards.”
― C.J. Sansom, Tombland

“The echoes of childhood torments have great power, even when not brought to mind in such an inexplicable and horrifying way.”
― C.J. Sansom, Dissolution

“No pity, I cannot bear that. I have lived far beyond the age of most men. Though it is always better not to see your end walking down the road towards you.”
― C.J. Sansom, Sovereign