"Born with a proud and independent spirit which never bowed at any one's command, how could I accept the idea of a man being held sacred?
With my heart and head possessed by the great beings of the ancient republics, who are the greatest honor to the human species, I practiced their maxims from my earliest years, and nourished myself on a study of their virtues...

The pretended necessity of a monarchy...

could not amalgamate, in my mind, with the grand and noble conceptions formed by me, of the dignity of the human species.

Hope deceived me, it is true, but my error was too glorious to allow me to repent of it."-- Self-admiration is likewise the mental substratum of Madame Roland, Roland, Petion, Barbaroux, Louvet, etc., (see their writings).

Mallet du Pan well says: "On reading the memoirs of Madame Roland, one detects the actress, rehearsing for the stage.