Quotes from C.J. Sansom

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

The echoes of childhood torments have great power, even when not brought to mind in such an inexplicable and horrifying way.

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

If I knocked and waited at every door, who knows what I might miss?

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.

In worshipping their nationhood men worship themselves and scorn others, and that is no healthy thing.

We of alien looks or words must stick together.

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.

Like all lawyers, I was delighted by gratitude. It happened so rarely.

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.

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.

If I knocked and waited at every door, who knows what I might miss?

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.

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.

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

you should not insult yourself so, sir. Is there not enough suffering in the world?

Around thrones the thunder rolls.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

If a ruler who wants to act honourably is surrounded by unscrupulous men, his downfall is inevitable.

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.