There is no strength without justice. Men who have changed the world never achieved their success by winning the chief citizens to their side, but always by stirring the masses. Everything beyond that is a crime. If fifty thousand men were to die for the good of the State, I certainly would weep for them, but political necessity comes before everything else. Do not talk to me of goodness, of abstract justice, of nature law.
Necessity is the highest law, public welfare is the highest justice.
They think I am stern, even hardhearted. So much the better-this makes it unnecessary for me to justify my reputation. My firmness is taken for callousness. I shall not complain, since this notion is responsible for the good order that is prevailing, so that there is nothing that needs to be repressed. Passions change, politics are immutable.