Haitian - Leader | May 20, 1743 - April 7, 1803
The whites have resolved to destroy our liberty and have therefore brought a force commensurate to their intentions. The Cape, after a proper resistance, has fallen into their hands, but the enemy found only a town and plain in ashes; the forts were blown up, and all was burnt.
Toussaint Louverture
HandsEnemyLibertyIntentionsUp
I know how to move the people, but I know also where to stop in my own actions so that, when I strike, I shall be felt and not seen.
PeopleStopKnowStrikeMy OwnOwn
I invite you, citizens, to open your eyes and to give serious attention to the future. Reflect on the disasters which may ensue from longer obstinacy. Submit to lawful authority, if you wish to preserve the South untouched. Save your families and your property.
FutureEyesWishAttentionYouOpen
Mastered by deadly passions, Rigaud has dug a gulf at your feet; he has laid snares which you could not avoid. He wished to have you as partisans in his revolt; and to succeed in his object, he has employed falsehood and seduction.
SucceedFeetYouAvoidPassionsHe
The revolution of Saint Domingo was taking its course. I saw that the whites could not endure, because they were divided and because they were overpowered by numbers; I congratulated myself that I was a black man.
MyselfManRevolutionBlackNumbers
I shall not remind you, Citizen-Directors, of all I have done for the triumph of liberty, the prosperity of St. Domingo, the glory of the French Republic; nor will I protest to you my attachment to our mother country, to my duties; my respect to the constitution, to the laws of the Republic, and my submission to the government.
MotherRespectGovernmentYouGlory
I am kind; I am humane. I open to you my fatherly arms. Come, all of you; I will receive you all - no less those of the South than those of the West, and of the North, who, gained over by Rigaud, have deserted your firesides, your wives, your children, to place yourselves at his side.
ChildrenI AmYouPlaceKindWill
When it shall be known that, at the time which I was accused of wishing to sunder this island from France - my benefactress - I repeated the oath of fidelity to her, I take pleasure in believing that the government I own, and my fellow-citizens, will render me the justice I merit, and that the enemies of my brethren will be reduced to silence.
TimeJusticeSilenceGovernmentMe
I have need of Rigaud. He is violent. I want him for carrying on war; and that war is necessary to me.
WarMeWantNeedHimNecessary
God, who knows our most secret thoughts and who sees all, is witness to the purity of my principles. They are not founded on this barbarous ferocity that takes pleasure in shedding human blood.
GodThoughtsBloodPrinciplesHuman
We went to labor in the fields, my wife and I, hand in hand. Scarcely were we conscious of the fatigues of the day. Heaven always blessed our toil.
DayWifeBlessedHeavenLaborHand
The heads of regiments are required to see that the troops join in prayer morning and evening as far as the service will permit.
MorningServicePrayerEveningWill
Copyright © 2024 QuotesDict Toussaint Louverture quotes