Terror is only justice: prompt, severe and inflexible. It is then an emanation of virtue.
Maximilien RobespierreThe most extravagant idea that can be born in the head of a political thinker is to believe that it suffices for people to enter, weapons in hand, among a foreign people and expect to have its laws and constitution embraced. No one loves armed missionaries; the first lesson of nature and prudence is to repulse them as enemies.
Maximilien RobespierreIt has been said that terror is the principle of despotic government. Does your government therefore resemble despotism? Yes, as the sword that gleams in the hands of the heroes of liberty resembles that with which the henchmen of tyranny are armed ... The government of the revolution is liberty's despotism against tyranny.
Maximilien RobespierreAny law which violates the inalienable rights of man is essentially unjust and tyrannical; it is not a law at all.
Maximilien RobespierreThe revolution is the war of liberty against its enemies. The constitution is the rule of liberty against its enemies. The constitution is the rule of liberty when victorious and peaceable.
Maximilien RobespierreAny institution which does not suppose the people good, and the magistrate corruptible, is evil.
Maximilien RobespierreNo one loves armed missionaries; the first lesson of nature and prudence is to repulse them as enemies.
Maximilien RobespierreWhen a Banker jumps out of a window, jump after him - that's where the money is.
Maximilien RobespierreIt is with regret that I pronounce the fatal truth: Louis ought to perish rather than a hundred thousand virtuous citizens; Louis must die that the country may live
Maximilien RobespierreFormerly, when a king died at Versailles the reign of his successor was immediately announced by the cry: "The king is dead, long live the king", in order to make it understood that despotism is immortal! Now an entire people, moved by a sublime instinct, cried: Long live the Republic! to teach the universe that tyranny died with the tyrant.
Maximilien RobespierreFood that is necessary for man’s existence is as sacred as life itself. Everything that is indispensable for its preservation is the common property of society as a whole. It is only the surplus that is private property and can be safely left to individual commercial enterprise.
Maximilien RobespierreBy sealing our work with our blood, we may see at least the bright dawn of universal happiness.
Maximilien RobespierreThe secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant.
Maximilien RobespierreSmuggle out the truth, pass it through all the obstacles that its enemies fabricate; multiply, spread by all means possible her message so that she may triumph; through zeal and civic action counterbalance the influence of money and the machinations lavished on the propagation of deception. That, in my opinion, is the most useful activity and the most sacred duty of pure patriotism.
Maximilien RobespierreTerror is only justice: prompt, severe and inflexible; it is then an emanation of virtue; it is less a distinct principle than a natural consequence of the general principle of democracy, applied to the most pressing wants of the country.
Maximilien RobespierreAgain, it may be said, that to love justice and equality the people need no great effort of virtue; it is sufficient that they love themselves.
Maximilien RobespierreThe general will rules in society as the private will governs each separate individual.
Maximilien RobespierreCrime butchers innocence to secure a throne, and innocence struggles with all its might against the attempts of crime.
Maximilien RobespierreIs it to be thought unreasonable that the people, in atonement for wrongs of a century, demand the vengeance of a single day?
Maximilien RobespierrePeoples do not judge in the same way as courts of law; they do not hand down sentences, they throw thunderbolts; they do not condemn kings, they drop them back into the void; and this justice is worth just as much as that of the courts.
Maximilien RobespierreAtheism is aristocratic; the idea of a great Being that watches over oppressed innocence and punishes triumphant crime is altogether popular.
Maximilien Robespierre