Authors From France

"[...] History does not instruct only with the story of virtues: it presents of every , but always lessons, when one knows how to take advantage of them. (volume III, book VII, pp. 139)"

"[Caligula] No Prince ever found more favorable dispositions in those who had to obey him when he ascended the Throne. He was loved by the Armies and the Provinces, who almost all had seen him as a child in the company of his father Germanicus, whom he accompanied not only to the Rhine, but also to the East. The incredible love of the Roman People for Germanicus fell on his son, and the misfortunes of his family had made this feeling even more tender: by adding that of commiseration. He emerged from a tyranny, under which he had groaned for a long time, and the hatred against Tiberius changed into affection for Cajo Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus known as Caligula. . (volume III, book VII, pp. 143)"

"had none of those vices which directly society, and he also possessed to a high degree the contrary virtues, modesty, clemency, the love of justice, and the alienation of pomp, and a judicious liberality, which found inexhaustible sources in his wise and prudent economy. Humankind, happy under his Government, has given him to share his recognition with an esteem and admiration that still exists today. (volume IX, book XVIII, p. 43)"

"[Trajano] I have spoken more than once of his passion for wine, by which he was, according to one Author, obliged to take the precaution of forbidding the execution of the orders, which he gave after a long lunch. His unnatural debaucheries must cover him with eternal infamy. I also venture to count among his defects his insatiable ardor for the war, the good events of which made him rise in pride, and the sinister successes of which caused him great affliction in the last years of his life. (volume IX, book XVIII, p. 44)"

"Commodus had demonstrated himself from his early years as he was later to progress: devoid of elevation of soul, feeling, and courage, succumbing to all bad impressions, and contumacious to any kind of good , which we wanted to inspire him; a very strong inclination to pleasure, and a violent aversion to fatigue. If he had any ability, he had it only for those things, which did not befit his rank. He knew how to joust, dance and sing: he was a comedian and gladiator. But the teachers that his father placed around him to form his intellect and heart, and the lessons of wisdom and virtue that he himself gave him, found neither input nor good will in this Prince. (volume X, book XX, p. 10)"

"Cleandro was part of all the pleasures, or rather, of all the debaucheries of Commodus, and having thus gained his confidence, he was for some time the rival of Perenne, and in the end supported by the faction of the freedmen of the palace, of which he was the leader, he came to ruin it. Heir to his power, he abused it with all the wickedness typical of a vile soul, and brought into the ministry all the vices of a servile condition. Everything was for sale with him, the positions of the Senators, the commands of the army, the governments of the Provinces, and the Prefectures, and he was paid dearly for them. (volume X, book XXI, p. 74)"

"To multiply his earnings, Cleander multiplied his offices, and appointed, which had never been seen before, twenty-five Consuls for a single year. He respected neither the Laws nor things judged. Anyone who had money to give him was sure to be acquitted, an ancient form of part. past of absolve . </ ref>, whatever crime he had committed; or reinstated, if he had previously been convicted, and very often still with increased dignity and splendor. (volume X, book XXI, p. 75)"

"[Cleander] he did not immediately take up the position of Prefect of the Praetorium, too disproportionate to the baseness of his condition, but paved the way for it by degrading it and degrading it with frequent changes. He made and unmade the Praetorian Prefects as he pleased. He had one that lasted five days, and another that lasted six hours. Finally, when Cleander believed he had reduced this powerful office in proportion to his rank, he conferred it on himself, taking two colleagues, who were his creatures, and who depended entirely on him. Then three Praetorian Prefects were seen for the first time. (volume X, book XXI, p. 76)"

"The glory of Pertinax equaled and even surpassed the splendor of his dignities. He had proven himself equally capable of military and civilian employment. A good and skilled warrior, his name had become the terror of the Barbarians; and he had at the same time been able to maintain discipline with severity among the restless and seditious troops. In the Government of Rome he conducted himself with such sweetness, affability and goodness that he won the love of everyone. Simple model with such a sign, which even then recognized Lolliano Avito as his protector This senator from Vittore is called Lollio Genziano. But he is certainly the same one that Capitolinus in the life of Pertinax n. 1 names Lolliano Avito. [N.d.A.] </ Ref>, to whom he had become at least equal, but for whom he always retained great reverence and gratitude, having been the first author of his fortune; enemy of luxury, and lover of frugality, History accuses him of nothing other than excessive economy, and the habit of promising more than he intended to keep in order to please with nice words those whom he could not satisfy with Opera. (volume X, book XXI, p. 108)"

"[Pertinax] The esteem for his virtue was universal. When the news of the death of Commodus and the election of Pertinax reached the Provinces, the people hesitated to believe it. They feared that this was not a trap set by Commodus to have the opportunity to exercise his cruelties and his robberies. In that uncertainty many Governors took the decision to wait for the confirmation, and also to have the couriers imprisoned, being certain that if the news were true, Pertinax would have quickly forgiven them for a fault, which did not proceed from bad will. The peoples allied to the Empire had no less advantageous ideas of him. His filled him with joy; and they sent ambassadors to congratulate the Senate and the Roman people. (volume X, book XXI, p. 117)"

"If Niger was a severe General towards his soldiers, on the other hand he was their protector against injustice. The Roman soldiers were in a certain way of those who commanded them, and the custom had been introduced for them to pay certain supposed taxes, which degenerated into harassment. He suppressed these exactions in the army of which he had command; he forbade the to receive anything from their soldiers, and had two of them stoned to death, who had been guilty of this sort of extortion against his prohibition. He frequently had a beautiful saying on this subject. He said that an Officer must make himself feared and respected by his soldiers, and that he can never obtain this unless he is without fault and without blemish in what concerns interest. (volume X, book XXII, p. 153)"

"Shivaji’s generals, who had been given this coup for a cue, then charged the enemy so promptly that the first squadrons were cut in pieces, and the rest, being panic stricken, surrendered to their conqueror. The general’s son and six of his principal officers were taken prisoner and brought to the king. They begged for quarter for the rest of their troops, who were being massacred without mercy. Shivaji then stopped the carnage and, having surrounded the rest of the enemy, promised them quarter and good rewards, if they would enter his service and swear an oath of fidelity. They were all delighted, and with one voice declared that they would be glad to fight, and pass the rest of their lives, under the standard of the greatest captain in all the East. He accordingly reinstated all the captains and officers in their appointments, and returned victorious from a battle in which he had lost but few of his own men. Before leaving the field, he ordered some camp-followers of the enemy to take the body of their general, which he made them honourably place in one of his palanquins, after covering it with black [Afzal Khan’s decapitated head was taken to Shivaji’s fort at Pratapgarh and buried there]. He sent it to the nearest town, to which some companies of cavalry had fled. They joined the cortege and escorted it to Afzalpur, where a magnificent tomb was erected for him on the very spot where his unfortunate wives had been buried."

"The court and the affairs of the Bijapur kingdom were, at this time, in a flourishing state. An ambassador from the Great Mughal had just arrived…After some days of rejoicings and fetes, the ambassador was conducted to the Hall of Audience, where the young King of Bijapur was already seated on his throne…He then told them that the Great Mughal, his master and the sovereign of all India, had sent him to convey his felicitations on the fine and illustrious government of this state, and as their kingdom was so powerful and rich, to ask for their cooperation, so as to increase their glory, which should always be the principal aim of the princes and nobles. It was fortunate that they could now justly undertake an unavoidable war at a time when there were no internal troubles. It was shameful to see the daily successes of Prince Shivaji, who, from being a simple minister of state in this same kingdom of Bijapur [Shivaji was never minister in Bijapur, his father entered service in the state in 1636], had risen today to such high fortune and grandeur that all the other Indian powers trembled before him. He had become master of the best part of this kingdom, namely its coasts and maritime frontiers. He had pillaged and sacked the richest towns of his king, the Mughal; he had taken the strongest places of the country; and no rivers, mountains, or forts, had yet been able to stem the progress of his enterprises and plans. Finally, if these ravages and continual successes were not opposed, he would become the most powerful king in the Orient. It was necessary, therefore, for them to provide the force of 14,000 horse and 10,000 foot, demanded by his master, the Great Mughal, in order to make a determined attack on the coastal towns and other places usurped by him, while the army of the Mughal would march against Shivaji from another side. To finance this war, they could use the amount of the annual tribute, a considerable sum which they were obliged to pay the Mughal."

"After the audience Khawass Khan summoned the princes and nobles several times to discuss this demand. They held many councils, and found the ambassador’s proposals to their advantage. They decided on war and appointed many generals and officers, who were at once sent on every side to raise levies of soldiers as soon as possible, so that in next to no time the town of Bijapur was in a tremendous uproar. The place was not large enough to train the cavalry which arrived from all parts. One heard nothing in the streets but the noise of drums and trumpets, and the shouts of these martial heroes. Each vizir and general armed his elephants in such a way as to make an appalling noise. They had war-machines on their backs with chains and other iron instruments, which are used in battle by these formidable animals at the will of those who ride them. The rich trapping of gold, silver, and precious stones, displayed on harness, arms and other equipment, seemed more in keeping with some great fete, tournament, or public procession than with a war."

"Prince Shivaji did not lack information from his secret intelligence, which he had all over India. He made little of all these preparations and plans against him, and like a second Alexander, told his soldiers that the more his enemies had of luxury, splendid appointments, and gorgeous trappings, the less mettle and courage they would have; and that he preferred to see his men covered with iron and steel, which are the true ornaments of every soldier. Moreover, he had so many ruses and tricks that his enemies had great difficulty in avoiding them. His plans were never known and, when he was thought to be in one place with all his forces, he surprised everyone by a venture quite the opposite to the one expected. He had for some months been at the gates of Surat, whence most people had fled. It was considered certain that from there he would make for Ahmadabad, one of the richest and most powerful Mughal towns; and at a time when the assurance of his march thither was causing great alarm in those places, everyone was amazed to hear he was at the gates of Golconda [1672], where he summoned the king to send him two millions of pagodas, or else to come out and fight in order to prevent his victorious entry into the capital and its delivery to his army for pillage. The King of Golconda was so terror-struck that he at once sent the sum of money demanded. He was in no state even to defend his royal town, where only merchants and court gallants were available, all his forces being engaged in the siege of St. Thome against the French. The latter fact was well known all over the East, and gave Prince Shivaji the opportunity of making this coup d’etat. He was advised to take this course on account of the help it would give the French, with whom he was very friendly, for by reducing the finances of the king he would deprive him of the principal means of continuing his war against them."

"After this exploit Shivaji, despising all the expeditions and armies that were being prepared against him, withdrew to his own country, and, as a diversion, visited all his places and fortresses where provisions and munitions of war were kept. Most of them were so strong, steep and inaccessible that only a faithful governor and a small garrison were needed to defend them against the most powerful Eastern forces. Shivaji thought so little of the Bijapur state’s warlike preparations against him that he left at once with a flying camp and conquered some frontier posts of that kingdom, which are so near Goa that only a river separates them [raid on Kanara 1673]. The Portuguese are very uneasy at finding themselves neighbours of this powerful and redoubtable prince, who presses them so closely on every side that they can hardly leave their towns without entering his territories; and Shivaji thus threatens to complete their abasement."

"We arrived at Abdelpour [Afzalpur] a little before nightfall after a whole day’s march. It is a delightful town, situated in a fertile lowland with large meadows watered by a stream, which flows through the sluice of a large reservoir above the town: its water is confined by a curved embankment faced with stone, a work which well shows the power and magnificence of its builder, the nobleman of the place [Afzal Khan]. He was one of the greatest warriors and best generals in the kingdom of Bijapur in the reign of its rightful king, who was poisoned by his unfaithful wife [in the reign of Muhammad Adil Shah, 1626-56]. This governor was indeed a powerful and courageous vizir, who had done many splendid things for the good of the kingdom. Later on he retired to this town of Afzalpur, which had been granted to him, and lived here in great state and comfort in a magnificent castle. He was at ease here when the last Bijapur king sent an army against Prince Shivaji under Rustam Zaman, governor of Onquery [Hukeri]. He was summoned to the court and made a general of 15,000 horse, which were again sent to fight Shivaji. He resolutely promised the king to conquer the enemy or die in the attempt. But before leaving he committed an act, which was the most cruel and detestable it is possible to imagine. This man, like all those orientals whose chief pleasure in the world is to pass their lives among flocks of women, and being one of the most powerful nobles in the kingdom, had a fine seraglio of 200 women, to whom he was so passionately attached that he could not bring himself to leave them. Inspired by a mad jealousy, he resolved that no one else should see or enjoy the treasures he guarded so dearly, in the event of his death in battle. Therefore, when the time for his departure came, he left the court and went to Afzalpur to settle his household affairs. He stayed there three days, shut up in his seraglio, to feast and disport himself for the last time with his wives. He then actually had them all murdered and thrown into a fire, which he had prepared for this purpose in the middle of his palace. After this noble exploit, which was the last of his life, he left without any remorse, breathing fire and slaughter against the enemy. They soon made him rue this infamous cruelty towards a sex from whom he had always received favours, submission, and a blind obedience to his will."

"Prince Shivaji, who had received warning of his march, went to meet him and placed all his forces in a favourable position to await attack. Both armies were in sight of one another; and the two generals, the most valiant warriors in the East, did wonders in moving their squadrons so as to seize hills and other points of vantage. The whole country swarmed with cavalry, elephants, camels carrying thousands of standards, to which each company could rally. Shivaji, on his side, encouraged his men by voice and action, showing himself in every part of his camp. In passing down their ranks, he urged them to remember that they were soldiers, brothers in arms, and companions in fortune, of the great Shivaji; that they must never fear enemies whom they had beaten so often, and who were more ready to retreat in an emergency than to attack and give a good account of themselves. He added that, if the enemy’s general was once the bravest man in the kingdom and had won great victories, it was at a time when he cared only for the art of war; now he had embraced another sort of life amid the pleasures and delights of the world, so that he had lost all his former redoubtable qualities, and become cowardly and effeminate. Shivaji’s soldiers were roused by his speech, and the camp rang on all sides with shouts and acclamations, which struck terror and panic into the hearts of the most courageous of their opponents. The latter knew that they had to do with an army which had made every oriental power tremble by reason of its ever increasing victories and conquests. They shivered at the mere sight of these terrible people, against whom they fought more unwillingly than they would have done against another less redoubtable army."

"Both sides were awaiting the signal to attack, when two heralds were seen issuing from Shivaji’s camp. They asked the general to come for a quarter of an hour’s interview with that prince, who wished to communicate something of importance before the battle commenced. The general agreed to this, and it was arranged that they should both meet, unarmed, between the two armies with an escort of only two soldiers, who were to stand a little aside, so as not to hear the conversation. Shivaji spoke first and said to the other that he was well aware of his valour, his merits, and the glory he had acquired in his warlike career; also he had not forgotten the many courageous actions that had won him such a splendid reputation in his kingdom. Therefore he had been compelled to bring all his forces against him, in order to have the glory of vanquishing such a fine army as his, as he had no doubt of doing. But the real reason for which he had requested the interview before the battle was to demand the dismissal of a man in that army who did not merit the glory and honour of a soldier’s death. The general, astonished at Shivaji’s speech, asked who was the man that he wished to exclude from the glory of battle. “It is yourself, sir,” he replied, “you, who have lost all your former glory and the reputation you had acquired by your arms through your last action in massacring and burning two hundred poor women in such a brutal, inhuman and cowardly manner. You do not deserve to be conquered by force of arms, but rather to be chastised and punished in a manner worthy of your infamous action.” He then drew a poisoned knife, which he had hidden in the folds of his belt, and plunging it three times into his body, stretched him dead at his feet."

"Throw yourself into each moment as if it were the only one that really existed. Work and work hard."

"fear kills, and joy maintains life."

"Dancing on a tightrope requires that one maintain an equilibrium from one moment to the next by recreating it at every step by means of new adjustments; it requires one to maintain a balance that is never permanently acquired; constant readjustments renews the balance while giving the impression of ‘keeping it’."

"I am certain that children always know more than they are able to tell, and that makes the big difference between them and adults, who, at best, know only a fraction of what they say. The reason is simply that children know everything with their whole beings, while we know it only with our heads."

"The men over thirty round about us were afraid: for their wives and their children — these were real reasons; but also for their possessions, their position, and that is what made us angry; above all for their lives, which they clung to much more than we did to ours. We were less frightened than they were. The years ahead would prove the point. Four-fifths of the Resistance in France was the work of men less than thirty years old."

"Friendship was salvation, in this fragile world the only thing left that was not fragile. I promise you one can be drunk on friendship as well as on love."

"If Greek culture has influenced Western civilization, we must not forget that, in spite of the inestimable benefits of Greece to India, the ancient Greeks themselves were also sons of Hindu thought. As has already been mentioned, Pythagoras went to India in order to draw from the very source the principles which constituted the foundation of his doctrine and which in its turn influenced Plato, Socrates and even Aristotle to a certain degree. Apollonius of Tyanae, Plotin, did they not follow in the footprints of their predecessors, in directing themselves towards far-off India? China, Persia, Islam – the three-fourths of Asia – these civilizations which had already been influenced by the missions of Asoka, were they not attracted by India’s wisdom? That is the reason why ancient India is our Mother. In the measure that we Westerners make our intellectual and spiritual genealogy reach back to India shall we learn to love her and to consider in its true light her wisdom, the patrimony of every man."

"It is a fact, whether we wish to accept it or not, that India is the Mother of all of us. She has given us everything: religion, philosophy, science, art. All that has been truly great, noble, and generous, throughout the ages has come from India. At this moment when a hurricane of violence and hate is raging across the world, and will rage still more through the world of the future, making the very frame-work of our civilization crack, at this moment when intellectual and moral values are being trampled upon by the hordes of egotism, brutality, and lying, let us go together, towards India from whom we can learn so much."

""Abyss calls to abyss." It is there in the very depths that the divine impact takes place, where the abyss of our nothingness encounters the Abyss of mercy, the immensity of the all of God. There we will find the strength to die to ourselves and, losing all vestige of self, we will be changed into love."

"I have found heaven on earth, since heaven is God and God is in my soul. The day I understood that, everything became clear to me, and I would like to share this secret with all those I love so that they, too, might cling to God through everything, so that this prayer of Christ might be fulfilled: "Father, may they be made perfectly one!""

""Remain in Me." It is the Word of God who gives this order, expresses this wish. Remain in Me, not for a few moments, a few hours which must pass away, but "remain..." permanently, habitually, Remain in Me, pray in Me, adore in Me, love in Me, suffer in Me, work and act in Me."

""Because I love My Father, I do always the things that are pleasing to Him." Thus spoke our holy Master, and every soul who wants to live close to Him must also live this maxim. The divine good pleasure must be its food, its daily bread; it must let itself be immolated by all the Father's wishes in the likeness of His adored Christ. Each incident, each event, each suffering, as well as each joy, is a sacrament which gives God to it; so it no longer makes a distinction between these things; it surmounts them, goes beyond them to rest in its Master, above all things."

"I waited so long to tell this story partly because when I started to make comics I didn’t want to be the guy of Arab origin who makes comics about Arab people…I didn’t want to be the official Arab comics artist. So I made a lot of comics in France which weren’t related to this part of me. I made a movie. But even during all that other work, I was thinking I have this good story, how could I tell it?"

"(What’s the last great book you read?) ...I tore through two volumes of “The Arab of the Future,” by Riad Sattouf — it’s the most enjoyable graphic novel I’ve read in a while."

"I tried not to generalize. But a lot of guys are like my father. He came from a poor family — the gap between where he started and where he ended up as a doctor was too big, and he was thinking he had a destiny! He was a little bit crazy. And he was so proud of this. He also hated Israel. It was a huge humiliation for him and his friends — the defeats by Israel. It was like a personal defeat. So he hated the United States, of course; he hated Europe because they had good relations with Israel. It was, like, biblical. As if Europe and the United States prefer the Jew to the Arab. And he wanted to say, “But I am as intelligent as them.” It was very strange."

"I don’t want to read modern comics, comics that are made today. I take care not to read too many contemporary comics, because I’m afraid it will influence me. Or it will complex me in a way. I see someone doing something great and I will say, “Oh, my god, I am shit — what am I doing?” So I prefer not to read them. Sometimes, when it appears to be incredible, I will read it — but I’m very afraid of reading modern comics. I read only old things and things I liked when I was young…"

"So the reader thinks: “My God, this man is saying horrible things in front of a child!”…It’s more sincere ... I wanted to try to describe the dark side and the positive side – if there was a positive side – all together ... I wanted to express the paradox that was in my father between modernity and tradition. It is a very common and human paradox. How can you be modern and progressive and still respect ancestral tradition? It generates conflict in the mind, I think."

"I see no anti-Semitic implications in denial of the existence of gas chambers, or even denial of the Holocaust I see no hint of anti-Semitic implications in Faurisson's work relatively apolitical liberal of some sort"

"Faurisson, a specialist of the many forged pseudo-ancient narratives produced during the Romantic period to give a country a glorious past depicted in an epic of its own, like Ossian for Scotland or the Ura Linda Book for Frisia, started his negationist career with the claim that the Diary of Anne Frank was -- you guessed it -- a forgery..... Faurisson wanted to take it a step further, though: he denied the veracity of the diary. It was the girl’s father who, after his return in 1945 to Amsterdam, had edited the diary before publishing it, and he had left out some passages he deemed inconvenient, especially about the sexual awakening of his pubescent daughter. Even so, this petty fault-finding left the girl’s report about the persecution of the Jews entirely unchallenged. This will remain a common scenario in the negationist movement: focusing on marginal elements that are convenient and obscuring what proves the genocide. This is not uncommon among polemicists defending any cause, but the grimness of the case makes it more serious here."

"While some may regard Chomsky as an eminent linguist, he does not understand the most obvious meaning ofwords in context. To fail to see any "hint of anti-Semitic implications" in Faurisson's collective condemnation of the Jewish people as liars is to be either a fool or a knave. Failure to recognize the anti-Semitic implications of Holocaust denial is like saying there would be no racist implications in a claim that Blacks enjoyed slavery, or no sexist implications in a statement that women want to be raped. The Holocaust is the central historical event of modern Jewish history. Efforts to deny or minimize it are the current tools of the anti-semite and neo-Nazi. Not surprising, both Faurisson and Chomsky are frequently quoted with approval by these hatemongers."

"Some time ago I was asked to sign a petition in defense of Robert Faurisson’s “freedom of speech and expression.” The petition said absolutely nothing about the character, quality or validity of his research, but restricted itself quite explicitly to a defense of elementary rights that are taken for granted in democratic societies, calling upon university and government officials to “do everything possible to ensure the [Faurisson’s] safety and the free exercise of his legal rights.” I signed it without hesitation."

"The fate of all founders of moral and religious schools did not escape Tolstoy. He had three types of disciples: those of one type looked after their own internal improvement and had, so to say, a poor opinion of all practical actions. They are the followers of the letter of the law. Very rarely does one encounter persons like this among Tolstoyans. Those of another type left their studies or privileged situations and went to live among the people, maintaining themselves by farming or the trades. They are the men of goodwill on humankind's labor front. Those of the third and final type do not reject their special skills, through which they serve the people and true progress. They are the friends of the people."

"During this summer [of 1906] the strain between Father and Mother grew deeper. … A young Tolstoyan by the name of Lebrun, whom Father loved very much, lived with us at this time and helped Father."

"A genius, an eighty-two year-old thinker and author, loved and respected by the whole world, having to flee like a criminal from his own home! To flee from the bottomless abyss created between persons having dissimilar guiding instincts! Through the cold impenetrable autumn night, Tolstoy ran alone to the nearest stable through the large apple orchard. And behind him, the terrifying specter of being caught and again made to drown in the insufferable surroundings in which he had been suffocated for all of thirty years! Before him, finally, lay moral freedom, so long and so earnestly awaited! Finally, the possibility, though not for long, though only until death, of relief from the pressures on his mind! The possibility of carrying out his much revered duty before his conscience and before toiling humankind! He had been hindered in life. Now he can at last succeed in dying with dignity."

"Persistent and undiscerning almost to the point of criminality as far as resources were concerned, this woman [Sophia Tolstaya] was of immeasurable hindrance to her husband, her children and humankind as a whole."

"Nature is like a woman worthy of being placed on a pedestal. In order fully to understand and appreciate her, it is necessary to live with her a long time in intimate proximity."

"In the spiritual world, just as in the physical world, nothing is lost. Where an ember quietly glows, even a breeze can fan a blaze. Just as he instructed me, Tolstoy's powerful call touched millions of hearts and intellects."

"“Leo Nicolayevich, what is madness?” I asked him … The reply followed. “It is selfishness,” he explained, “the narrowing of one's attention to oneself and afterward to any single idea.”"

"Il n'est pas de sauveurs suprêmes Ni Dieu, ni César, ni tribun Producteurs, sauvons-nous nous-mêmes Décrétons le salut commun Pour que le voleur rende gorge Pour tirer l'esprit du cachot Soufflons nous-mêmes notre forge Battons le fer quand il est chaud."

"On l'a tuée à coups de chassepot A coups de mitrailleuse, Et roulée avec son drapeau Dans la terre argileuse. Et la tourbe des bourreaux gras Se croyait la plus forte. Tout ça n'empêche pas, Nicolas Qu'la Commune n'est pas morte."

"Debout, les damnés de la terre Debout, les forçats de la faim La raison tonne en son cratère C'est l'éruption de la fin Du passé faisons table rase Foule esclave, debout, debout Le monde va changer de base Nous ne sommes rien, soyons tout."