"We are lumbering, thick-skinned animals, we reach out our hands to touch but the straining is pointless, we blunder about rubbing our coarse skins up against each other. We are very much alone" (Act One, page 1).

"The people's cheeks are still white. The drops of blood from August and September aren't enough. The guillotine's too slow. We need a downpour" (Act One, page 8).

"Every breath an aristocrat draws is the death rattle of liberty" (Act One, page 10).

"I became a sea, devouring everything, moved by tremendous tides, even in its depths. All men's bodies merged into one" (Act One, page 15).

"Danton, you are a dead saint of the Revolution. But the Revolution allows no relics, it has thrown the bones of all the kings into the street and all the statues out of the churches. Do you think they'll let you be a monument?" (Act One, page 18)

"I...