Louis Antoine de Saint-Just Quotes

Quotes about:

Revolution Virtue

The vessel of Revolution can arrive at port only on a sea reddened by torrents of blood.

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

Blood, Sea, Revolution

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Most arts have produced miracles, while the art of government has produced nothing but monsters.

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

Art, Government, Miracle

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just's speech to the National Convention, April 24, 1973.

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A nation regenerates itself only upon heaps of corpses.

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

Corpses, Nations

Speech to the members of the Committee of Public Safety, quoting Mirabeau, October 17, 1793. "Saint-Just: Colleague of Robespierre". Book by Eugene Newton Curtis, p. 236, 1973.

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It is impossible to reign innocently.

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

Power, Reign, Impossible

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One does not make revolutions by halves.

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

Doe, Half, Revolution

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In every Revolution a dictator is needed to save the state by force, or censors to save it by virtue.

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

Revolution, Dictator, Virtue

Speech fragment, 1794.

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Monarchy is an outrage which even the blind of an entire people cannot justify... all men hold from nature the secret mission to destroy wherever it my be found. No man can reign innocently. The folly is too evident. Every king is a rebel and a usurper. Do kings themselves treat otherwise those who seek to usurp their authority?

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

Kings, Men, People

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Fame is an empty noise. Let us put our ears to the centuries that have gone: we no longer hear anything; those who, at another time, shall walk among our urns, shall hear no more. The good - that is what we must pursue, whatever the price, preferring the title of a dead hero to that of a living coward.

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

Hero, Coward, Titles

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If all people are free, all are equal. If they are equal, they are just.

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

People, Equal, Ifs

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Keep cool and you command everybody.

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

Anger, Self, Command

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To dare: that is the whole secret of revolutions.

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

Secret, Revolution, Dare

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I have not found a single good man in government; I have found good only in the people.

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

Men, People, Good Man

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just's remarks on declaring the Minister of War, Charles François Dumouriez, a traitor (March 1793), as quoted in David William Bates "Enlightenment Aberrations: Error and Revolution in France" (p. 169), 2002.

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It has always seemed to me that the social order was implicit in the very nature of things, and required nothing more from the human spirit than care in arranging the various elements; that a people could be governed without being made thralls or libertines or victims thereby; that man was born for peace and liberty, and became miserable and cruel only through the action of insidious and oppressive laws. And I believe therefore that if man be given laws which harmonize with the dictates of nature and of his heart he will cease to be unhappy and corrupt.

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

Believe, Heart, Men

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just's speech to the National Convention, April 24, 1793.

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I do not belong to any faction, I will fight them all.

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

Fighting, Factions

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One cannot reign innocently: the insanity of doing so is evident. Every king is a rebel and a usurper.

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

Kings, Insanity, Rebel

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just's speech to the National Convention, November 13, 1792.

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When human statecraft attaches a chain to the feet of a free man, whom it makes a slave in contempt of nature and citizenship, eternal justice rivets the other end about the tyrant's neck.

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

Men, Tyrants, Feet

Speech fragment, 1794.

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Morality is stronger than tyrants.

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

Perseverance, Tyrants, Stronger

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Dare! - this word contains all the politics of our revolution.

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

Revolution, Dare

Speech to the National Convention, February 26, 1794.

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The Revolution has grown cold; all its principles are weakened; there remains only red caps worn by intriguers. The exercise of terror has made crime blasé, as strong liquors made the palace blasé.

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

Strong, Exercise, Principles

Speech fragment, 1794.

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Let Revolutionists be Romans, not Tatars.

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

Speech to the National Convention on March 17, 1794. "Saint-Just: Colleague of Robespierre". Book by Eugene Newton Curtis, p. 228, 1973.

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When a people, having become free, establish wise laws, their revolution is complete.

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

Wise, Law, People

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just's remarks on autumn 1792, as quoted in "Oeuvres Completes de Saint-Just", Volume 1, edited by Charles Vellay (p. 264), 1908.

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Every political edict which is not based upon nature is wrong.

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

Political

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just's remarks on autumn 1792, as quoted in "Oeuvres Completes de Saint-Just", Volume 1, edited by Charles Vellay (p. 306), 1908.

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When a people, having become free, establish wise laws, their revolution is complete... Peace and prosperity, public virtue, victory, everything is in the vigor of the laws. Outside of the laws, everything is sterile and dead.

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

Wise, Law, People

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just's remarks on autumn 1792, as quoted in "Oeuvres Completes de Saint-Just", Volume 1, edited by Charles Vellay, 1908.

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The legislator commands the future; to be feeble will avail him nothing: it is for him to will what is good and to perpetuate it; to make man what he desires to be: for the laws, working upon the social body, which is inert in itself, can produce either virtue or crime, civilized customs or savagery.

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

Men, Law, Desire

"Discours sur la Constitution à donner à la France". Speech to the National Convention, April 24, 1793.

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In the circumstances in which the Republic finds itself, the constitution cannot be inaugurated; it would destroy itself. The provisional government of France is revolutionary until there is peace.

Louis Antoine de Saint-Just

Government, Republic, France

Speech on October 10, 1793. "Oeuvres Complètes de Saint-Just", Volume 2, pp. 83-88, 1908.

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Born: August 25, 1767
Died: July 28, 1794
Occupation: Political leader
Cite this Page: Citation

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