The revolution must end and the republic must begin. In our constitution, right must take the place of duty, welfare that of virtue, and self-defense that of punishment. Everyone must be able to prevail and to live according to one’s own nature.
ATTRIBUTION:
Georg Büchner (1813–1837), German dramatist, revolutionary. Trans. by Gerhard P. Knapp (1994). Danton’s Death, act I (1835).
