‘In general, may we not say that the French Revolution lies in the heart and head of every violent-speaking, of every violent-thinking French Man?’

Thomas Carlyle (1795–1881), Scottish writer, in The French Revolution: A History (1837)

‘Toute révolution qui n’est pas accomplie dans les moeurs et dans les idées échoue.’

‘Any revolution that does not have sufficiently complete morals and ideas will fail.’

François-René de Châteaubriand (1768–1848), French writer and politician, in his Historical, Political and Moral Essay on Revolutions Ancient and Modern (1797)

‘La révolution est comme Saturne – elle dévore ses enfants.’
Revolution is like [the Roman god] Saturn – it devours its children.’

Pierre Victurnien Vergniaud (1753–93), French politician who pronounced the death sentence on Louis XVI in January 1793 and was himself guillotined ten months later