There is but one freedom, to put oneself right with death. After that everything is possible.

A free press can of course be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom it will never be anything but bad. . . . Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better, whereas enslavement is a certainty of the worse.

Freedom is nothing but a chance to be better.

Le fameux discours de Saint-Just a ainsi tous les airs d'une étude théologique. "Louis [XVI] étranger parmis nous", voila la thèse de l'adolescent accusateur. Si un contrat, naturel ou civil, pouvait encore lier le roi et son peuple, il y aurait obligation mutuelle; la volonté du peuple ne pourrait s'ériger en juge absolu pour prononcer le jugement absolu. Il s'agit donc de démontrer qu'aucun rapport ne lie le peuple et le roi. Pour prouver que le peuple est en lui-même la vérité éternelle, il faut montrer que la royauté est en elle-même crime éternel.

No one can hope that men who have fought in silence for four years and are now fighting all day long in the din of bombs and the crackle of guns will agree to the return of the forces of surrender and injustice under any circumstances. No one can expect that these men will again accept doing what the best and purest did for twenty-five years—that is, loving their country and silently despising her leaders,

The people are under arms tonight because they hope for justice for tomorrow, Some go about saying that it is not worthwhile…But this is because they vaguely sense that this insurrection threatens many things thar would continue to stand if all took place otherwise.