Maximilien Robespierre - Virtue Quotes

5 Sourced Quotes

View all Maximilien Robespierre Quotes

Intimidation without virtue is disastrous; virtue without intimidation is powerless.

Maximilien Robespierre

Terror is nothing other than prompt, stern, inflexible justice; terror thus issues from virtue; it is less a particular maxim than a consequence of the general principle of democracy applied to the most pressing needs of the fatherland.

Maximilien Robespierre

Wickedness is the root of despotism as virtue is the essence of the Republic.

Maximilien Robespierre

If the attribute of popular government in peace is virtue, the attribute of popular government in revolution is at one and the same time virtue and terror, virtue without which terror is fatal, terror without which virtue is impotent. The terror is nothing but justice, prompt, severe, inflexible; it is thus an emanation of virtue.

Maximilien Robespierre

Our revolution has made me feel the full force of the axiom that history is fiction and I am convinced that chance and intrigue have produced more heroes than genius and virtue.

Maximilien Robespierre