- 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.
- Camille Desmoulins: I don't want to die. I have a right to live.
- Philippeaux: A man has only those rights he can defend.
- 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: 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: What do you want?
- Philippeaux: The Public Safety Committee has exceeded its mandate. Dismantle it without a fight. Only you can do that. Frankly, you disgust me, but I'll back you.
- Danton: I'm flattered.
- Robespierre: We fought a revolution in the name of fairness and equality.
- Danton: Now you chop off any head above the rest.
- Danton: People just want to eat and sleep in peace. Without bread, there's no law, no freedom, no justice, no Republic.
- Philippeaux: You are to die in five days. Admit it and give up all hope. When death is sure, suffering comes to a quick end.
- Camille Desmoulins: We can win the case.
- Philippeaux: No! This is a political trial. It has nothing to do with justice.
- 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!
- Robespierre: Fouquier, if we back off, we're all sunk.
- Fouquier-Tinville: I'm a judge. I'm not your private executioner.
- Robespierre: You are an executioner! Not mine - the people's! You serve justice! We send you the Republic's enemies! Your duty is not to judge them but to destroy them!
- 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: I speak and I'll go on speaking. Perhaps the air in this very hall will preserve the echo of my silenced voice.
- Lacroix: I remember what old Guillotin said: You feel nothing when the blade drops. Just a pleasantly cool sensation.
- Robespierre: You admit a dictatorship is needed. That means the nation is unable to govern itself and democracy is only an illusion.
- Éléonore Duplay: A good revolutionary must be tough. Article One.
- Éléonore Duplay's young brother: All men are born free and equal under the law. Social differences...
- Éléonore Duplay: [slaps her brother's hand] Must be based...
- Éléonore Duplay's young brother: On the public good. The principle...
- Éléonore Duplay: The goal.
- Éléonore Duplay's young brother: The goal of political parties is the good of the nation.
- Éléonore Duplay: Freedom.
- Éléonore Duplay's young brother: Freedom is being able to do whatever does not harm others. Therefore - the - the - the -
- [Éléonore again slaps her brother's hand]
- Éléonore Duplay: I forbid you to ogle citizen Robespierre like that.
- [slaps housemaid twice across her face]
- Danton: The same men mustn't stay in power too long.
- Robespierre: You aspire to power?
- Danton: I don't need to aspire to power. I have it. The only real power: from the man in the street. Because I understand him and he understands me. Never forget that.
- Robespierre: I won't. But likewise don't you forget that I'll stop at nothing to bring happiness to the people.
- Danton: Bring happiness to the people? You know nothing of the people! How could you know? Look at you. You don't drink, you in your powdered wigs! Swords make you faint, and they say you've never had a woman. Who do you speak for? Make men happy? You're not even a man yourself.
- 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: If we're not to blame, then it's fate.
- Robespierre: I've never believed in fate.
- Danton: Nor have I.
- Camille Desmoulins: What did you do?
- Danton: I refused to shake hands. I pronounced my own death sentence.
- Camille Desmoulins: You don't mean that.
- Danton: Yes, I do.
- Camille Desmoulins: Why did you refuse?
- Danton: His hands are too bloody.
- 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: 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: I was among those who established the people's justice. Do you think you can pervert it without my noticing?
- Fouquier-Tinville: You no longer have law on your side.
- Robespierre: When the Republic is at stake, we have every right. Never forget that. Say another word and you'll be arrested.
- 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!