The surest guide to the correctness of the path that women take is joy in the struggle. Revolution is the festival of the oppressed.
—Germaine Greer, 1970Quotes
In revolutions men fall and rise. Long before this war is over, much as you hear me praised now, you may hear me cursed and insulted.
—William Tecumseh Sherman, 1864Revolutionaries are greater sticklers for formality than conservatives.
—Italo Calvino, 1957To escape its wretched lot, the populace has three ways, two imaginary and one real. The first two are the rum shop and the church; the third is the social revolution.
—Mikhail Bakunin, 1871The brutalities of progress are called revolutions. When they are over we realize this: that the human has been roughly handled, but that it has advanced.
—Victor Hugo, 1862Those who give the first shock to a state are the first overwhelmed in its ruin; the fruits of public commotion are seldom enjoyed by him who was the first mover; he only beats the water for another’s net.
—Michel de Montaigne, 1580All civilization has from time to time become a thin crust over a volcano of revolution.
—Havelock Ellis, 1921Revolutions are not made by men in spectacles.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1871The spirit of revolution, the spirit of insurrection, is a spirit radically opposed to liberty.
—François Guizot, 1830Revolutions never go backward.
—Thomas Skidmore, 1829It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.
—Dolores Ibárruri, 1936I have been ever of the opinion that revolutions are not to be evaded.
—Benjamin Disraeli, 1844An oppressed people are authorized, whenever they can, to rise and break their fetters.
—Henry Clay, 1842