Maximilien Robespierre Quotes

Crime butchers innocence to secure a throne, and innocence struggles with all its might against the attempts of crime.

Peoples 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.

Omelets are not made without breaking eggs.

Citizens, did you want a revolution without revolution?

The aim of constitutional government is to preserve the Republic; that of revolutionary government is to lay its foundation.

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.

One can…never create [freedom] by an invading force.

Softness to traitors will destroy us all.

By sealing our work with our blood, we may see at least the bright dawn of universal happiness.

Again, 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.

When a Banker jumps out of a window, jump after him – that’s where the money is.

Pity is treason.

Food 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.

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

We must smother the internal and external enemies of the Republic or perish with it; now in this situation, the first maxim of your policy ought to be to lead the people by reason and the people’s enemies by terror.

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