The experienced writer says to the anguished novice: 'Just do it; get something, anything, on to the screen or page, just establish a flow of words, and criticise them later.' You give this advice but can't always take it.
Hilary MantelRead
He is careful to deny responsibility for September, but he does not, you notice, condemn the killings. He also refrains from killing words, sparing Roland and Buzot, as if they were beneath his notice. August 10 was illegal, he says; so too was the taking of the Bastille. What account can we take of that, in revolution? It is the nature of revolutions to break laws. We are not justices of the peace; we are legislators to a new world.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects on the complexity of moral responsibility during revolutionary times, suggesting that breaking laws can be necessary for progress.
In this quote, Hilary Mantel discusses the moral ambiguities encountered in the context of revolutions. It highlights the tension between adhering to laws and the need for radical changes that overturn existing orders. The speaker's avoidance of condemning violence while simultaneously acknowledging the illegality of revolutions suggests that in the pursuit of a new societal order, traditional moral frameworks may become obsolete. The quote invites readers to consider the ethical dimensions of revolutionary actions and the transformative potential they embody.
Themes
RevolutionLawResponsibilitySocietyChange
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion on the nature of laws during a political debate.
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Why are we so attached to the severities of the past? Why are we so proud of having endured our fathers and our mothers, the fireless days and the meatless days, the cold winters and the sharp tongues? It's not as if we had a choice.
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It is the absence of facts that frightens people: the gap you open, into which they pour their fears, fantasies, desires.
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History offers us vicarious experience. It allows the youngest student to possess the ground equally with his elders; without a knowledge of history to give him a context for present events, he is at the mercy of every social misdiagnosis handed to him.
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You can control and censor a child's reading, but you can't control her interpretations; no one can guess how a message that to adults seems banal or ridiculous or outmoded will alter itself and evolve inside the darkness of a child's heart.
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