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1 " The guillotine is the ultimate expression of Law, and its name is vengeance; it is not neutral, nor does it allow us to remain neutral. All social questions achieve their finality around that blade. The scaffold is an image. It is not merely a framework, a machine, a lifeless mechanism of wood, iron, and rope. It is as though it were a being having its own dark purpose, as though the framework saw, the machine listened, and the mechanism understood; as though that arrangement of wood and iron and rope expressed a will. In the hideous picture which its presence evokes it seems to be most terribly a part of what it does. It is the executioner's accomplice; it consumes, devouring flesh and drinking blood. It is a kind of monster created by the judge and the craftsman; a spectre seeming to live an awful life born of the death it deals. "
― Victor Hugo , Les Misérables
2 " The guillotine is the ultimate expression of Law, and its name is vengeance; it is not neutral, nor does it allow us to remain neutral. "
3 " I had one of those headaches. It kept pounding and got into that crazy realm where the guillotine seems like a good idea. "
― Patti Smith , Woolgathering
4 " Sometimes a revolution turns into an actual government, or at the very least an actual way of life that contrasts with days past like blood on snow. Such was the case in France, where even as the guillotine released a steady river of gore, Royalist insurrections were suppressed by what had become a sophisticated military.In Toulon, the Royalist insurrection in 1793 led to an actual siege by republicans, spearheaded by none other than Napoleon Bonaparte. The Royalists in Toulon, supported by the British and Spanish, were feared by the republicans as an existential threat to every hope and promise of the revolution. For months there were bombardments, cannon fire that made the windows in the prison tremble. "
― Kelsey Brickl , Wolves and Urchins: The Early Life of Inspector Javert
5 " It was like setting up a guillotine in the public square.You don't expect a thousand people to line up to put their heads in it. "
6 " Grease the guillotine with the fat of tyrants. Pull the concubine out of the clergyman`s bed. Monarch`s blood must flow, as thick as our boots. From there the free republic will rise. "
― Friedrich Hecker
7 " I think I'll accept the challenge to battle. I can choose the terms, right? And I don't have the faintest idea how to 'prevent' a revolution. Besides, as far as I know, revolutions can get out of hand. Remember the German revolution, with the guillotine?" Derna smirked. " German revolution? Guillotine? The guillotine was used in the French revolution. Nice try, little brother." " I'm actually impressed he knew what a guillotine was," commented Armen, deadpan.I glared at the two of them. Typical big sisters. They'd just ruined my chance to show off my knowledge. "
8 " So many of the things I invented I honestly did for fun, out of some perverse game of whether or not they’d work, whether people would use them. I mean, it was like setting up a guillotine in the public square. You don’t expect a thousand people to line up to put their heads in it "
9 " 'The Sundial' is written with the kind of humor that would make a guillotine laugh. "
