At first they'd thought the guillotine would be a sweet, clean business, but when you have twenty, perhaps thirty heads to take off in a day, there are problems of scale.
The initial perception of the guillotine was that it would be an efficient and humane method for execution. However, as the workload increased, with numerous executions each day, the reality proved to be far more complex. The practical challenges of handling such a volume of executions revealed that the process was not as straightforward as originally anticipated.
This quote reflects the grim realities of mass executions during the revolution. What was intended as a solution to provide swift justice became daunting as the logistical difficulties compounded. The efficiency of the guillotine was undermined by the sheer scale of death it was meant to handle, showcasing the darker aspects of revolutionary fervor.