It 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

Any institution which does not suppose the people good, and the magistrate corruptible, is evil.

The general will rules in society as the private will governs each separate individual.

The 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.

To punish the oppressors of humanity is clemency; to forgive them is cruelty.

Terror is nothing else than justice, prompt, severe, inflexible.

Softness to traitors will destroy us all.