Quote source help!

[victoriavandal.livejournal.com]

Does anyone know an exact source for the quote 'you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs', which is often used with reference to (revolutionary) violence and variously attributed to Stalin, Lenin, Napoleon, and Robespierre (Google tells me vaguely, 1790,'on ne saurait faire une omelette sans casser des oeufs') - is there an exact source (speech, letter, pamphlet?). I appreciate it would probably be a popular saying prior to that anyway, but...

The other quote source I'm wondering about is Saint-Just's alleged response to Camille Desmoulins' written remarks about him carrying his head like the holy sacrament: "I'll make him carry his like Saint Denis" - was that a bit of contemporary gossip, or the invention of Buchner in his play 'Danton's Death'?

Comments

[wolfshadow713.livejournal.com]

Does anyone know an exact source for the quote 'you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs', which is often used with reference to (revolutionary) violence and variously attributed to Stalin, Lenin, Napoleon, and Robespierre (Google tells me vaguely, 1790,'on ne saurait faire une omelette sans casser des oeufs')

I have no idea where it comes from, but if it is from the Revolution that would be totally ironic, considering what argueably led to Condorcet's death.

[ephaistion85.livejournal.com]

Could be Michelet the source of your second quotation? I'm almost sure he wrote something like this in his Histoire.

[misatheredpanda.livejournal.com]

Hm. I'm finding references to that quote on google books from the 1840s - still after Buchner's play, but wikipedia (lol reliable sources) and such tell me that it was lost for a long time, so presumably it wouldn't have been terribly well known only a decade after it was written...? That still doesn't rule it out, though... I can't believe I didn't think to check this ever, I think I've heard it so many times I just took it for granted!!