We are only puppets, our strings are being pulled by unknown forces.

I’ll know how to die with courage; that is easier than living.

The power of the people and the power of reason are one.

We have not made the Revolution, the Revolution has made us.

Love is a peculiar thing.

The revolutionary government is the despotism of liberty against tyranny.

Whoever finishes a revolution only halfway, digs his own grave.

Murder begins where self-defense ends.

The stars are scattered all over the sky like shimmering tears, there must be great pain in the eye from which they trickled.

You women could make someone fall in love even with a lie.

One must love humanity in order to reach out into the unique essence of each individual: no one can be too low or too ugly.

The statue of Freedom has not been cast yet, the furnace is hot, we can all still burn our fingers.

Revolution is like Saturn, it devours its own children.

Your words smell of corpses.

Peace to the shacks! War on the palaces!

The strides of humanity are slow, they can only be counted in centuries.

The Revolution is like Saturn – it eats its own children

Ich wage kaum die Hände auszustrecken, wie in einem engen Spiegelzimmer, aus Furcht überall anzustoßen, daß die schönen Figuren in Scherben auf dem Boden lägen und ich vor der kahlen, nackten Wand stünde.

Raise your eyes and count the small gang of your oppressors who are only strong through the blood they suck from you and through your arms which you lend them unwillingly.

The weapon of the Republic is terror, and virtue is its strength.

A good man with a good conscience doesn’t walk so fast.

Revolution is like the daughters of Pelias: it cuts humanity to pieces in order to rejuvenate it.

The world is chaos. Nothingness is the yet-to-be-born god of the world.

Death is the most blessed dream.

That is a long word: forever!

There are only Epicureans, either crude or refined; Christ was the most refined.

Dying people often become childish.

The breath of an aristocrat is the death rattle of freedom.

They say in the grave there is peace, and peace and the grave are one and the same.

Government must be a transparent garment which tightly clings to the people’s body.

The death clock is ticking slowly in our breast, and each drop of blood measures its time, and our life is a lingering fever.

We are always on stage, even when we are stabbed in earnest at the end.

How many women does one need to sing the scale of love all the way up and down?

The life of the wealthy is one long Sunday.