They made themselves the agitators in an assembly of which they might have been the statesmen.

They had not confidence in the republic, but feigned it.

In revolutions sincere characters are the only skilful characters.

It is glorious to die the victim of a faith; it is pitiful to die the dupe of one's ambition.
VI.
Three causes of uneasiness agitated men's minds at the moment when the Assembly opened its sittings--the clergy, emigration, and impending war.
The Constituent Assembly had committed a gross error in stopping at a half measure in reforming the clergy in France.

Mirabeau himself had been weak on this question.