Danton Quotes

Danton: Show my head to the people. It is worth seeing.

Robespierre: For the country's good we must be ruthless. We can't afford to be just. We'd have to rule by terror. You know what that is? Terror is nothing but despair.

Robespierre: Only the guilty tremble.

Robespierre: For revolutionaries, danger must never outweigh duty.

Robespierre: The eyes of the world are upon us every day. We must show no weakness, no moral cowardice. What would become of France if we lost the trust of the French?

Danton: This is politics, not butchery. Use your heads.

Danton: I don't want power. I'm 35 and look 60. I'm tired. I'd like to quit. But first I must end the terror, because I'm partly to blame for it.

Danton: If you see poverty as a revolutionary virtue, go and join Robespierre.

Robespierre: What does humiliation matter if it's for the country's good?

Danton: All exceptional people are above the masses.

Danton: No one must divide us, you and I. No committee, no government, no one. Divided, we both fall. I can't go along with your reign of terror and no one else will either. The people, our strength, will destroy the Revolution.

Danton: People just want to eat and sleep in peace. Without bread, there's no law, no freedom, no justice, no Republic.

Danton: I'd rather be executed than be an executioner.

Danton: No more blood! That's what I'm fighting for!

Lucile Desmoulins: A free press is the greatest terror to ambitious despots.

Philippeaux: Stop sniveling or I'll ask for another cell.

Danton: We still have our heads, our fists, teeth, claws to fight with.

Danton: People of France! Why are these swine here? Who dares to try me with thieves? We, the spearhead of the Revolution, tried as criminals!

Danton: The braver the man, the harder they try to destroy him.

Danton: Listen. Listen. When they decide to destroy a man, they throw the book at him. An old trick, but one I see they've brought to new refinement. You dismiss the law while claiming to serve it. It makes those in power think they have nothing to fear. The just have always been an obstacle to politicians, and today more than ever!

Danton: Why must I be killed? Only I can answer that. They must kill me because I'm honest. Because I tell the truth. Because I frighten them. Three reasons to murder a decent man!

Danton: I was among those who established the people's justice. Do you think you can pervert it without my noticing?

Danton: What a parody of justice! Where are the witnesses we are entitled to?

Danton: People of France, you are the Tribunal!

Danton: People of France, I appeal to you! You and you alone may judge me.

Danton: I am accused of conspiracy. Very well. I confess. I am guilty of conspiracy. In my heart, in my own company, I have conspired. Conspired for peace, amnesty, respect for the law, public order. Conspired for happiness and justice. These faults - yes, yes - because apparently that's what they are - I admit to with pride. But I admit only to them.

Danton: Another fault: being popular and strong, when only anonymity and cunning guarantee one a long life. If you desire a long life, you must not be loved. That's one of our new laws, all the more powerful for being unwritten. Woe to strong men loved by the people!

Danton: The Revolution is like Saturn: It devours its own children. Why must we - What fate propels us to condemn rather than forgive? Destroy rather than save? Why all this bloodshed? When, if ever, will it stop?

Danton: I thought I could put a brake to this storm of Revolution. I thought it advisable and I still do. But in the cold eyes, I have already read my death. You decided that before entering this room. I wonder: Was I wrong? Other men disagree with me. Their idealism knows no bounds. They no longer see men around them but only speculators, villains and traitors. In the name of revolutionary principles, they have forgotten the Revolution! They've established a new dictatorship worse than the old. Fearing the return of tyrants, they've become tyrants themselves!

Danton: The people have only one dangerous enemy: the government!

Danton: You know we're innocent! But you don't care, because you're following your orders. And Fouquier knows which orders I speak of. What are they? Confess! So I too am to taste the kiss of steel. But mark my words: You can have my head, but he who gave the order will soon rot beside me. He knows that if he kills me, it will be his death as well. You want to murder me without a trace. You forbid journalists to take notes. The clerks sit idly by. They too have been told to write nothing. It must all disappear. Am I to vanish too? No! I won't! No! I will go on speaking to the end, because I'm immortal. For I am the people. The people are with me! You murderers will be judged by the people!

Danton: I speak and I'll go on speaking. Perhaps the air in this very hall will preserve the echo of my silenced voice.

Danton: It will all collapse without me. There'll be nothing but terror. The Revolution is shamed!

Lacroix: I remember what old Guillotin said: You feel nothing when the blade drops. Just a pleasantly cool sensation.

Robespierre: I feel that everything I've lived for has collapsed forever.

Robespierre: You admit a dictatorship is needed. That means the nation is unable to govern itself and democracy is only an illusion.

Lindet: [I was elected to this committee to support our revolutionaries, not to kill them]

Collot d'Herbois: Lawyer's tricks, Robespierre!

Collot d'Herbois: Besides Danton, who else?