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Taine, Hippolyte, 1828-1893

"The French Revolution - Volume 3"

"
(Note that the P?re Duchesne, founded by H?bert, was the most radical
and revolutionary journal. (SR.) - Of all privileges, accordingly,
that of having a supply of food is the most offensive; "it is now
necessary for one who has two dishes to give one of them to him who
has none;"[91] every man who manages to eat more than another is a
robber; for, in the first place, he robs the community, the sole
legitimate owner of aliments, and next, he robs, and personally, all
who have less to eat than he has.
The same rule applies to other things of which the possession is
either agreeable or useful: in an equalizing social system, that now
established, every article of food possessed by one individual to the
exclusion of others, is a dish abstracted from the common table and
held by him to another's detriment. On the strength of this, the
theorists who govern agree with the reigning ragamuffins. Whoever has
two good coats is an aristocrat, for there are many who have only one
poor one.[92] Whoever has good shoes is an aristocrat, for many wear
wooden ones, and others go barefoot. Whoever owns and rents lodgings
is an aristocrat, for others, his tenants, instead of receiving money,
pay it out.


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