Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made—through disobedience and through rebellion.

Rebellion is no less a sin than divination.

And then, sir, there is this consideration: that if the abuse be enormous, nature will rise up and, claiming her original rights, overturn a corrupt political system.

Revolutionaries are greater sticklers for formality than conservatives.

The children of the revolution are always ungrateful, and the revolution must be grateful that it is so.

The most radical revolutionary will become a conservative on the day after the revolution.

The 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.

All successful revolutions are the kicking in of a rotten door. The violence of revolutions is the violence of men who charge into a vacuum.

All modern revolutions have ended in a reinforcement of the power of the state.

Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.

Revolutions are celebrated when they are no longer dangerous. 

Revolutions are not about trifles, but they are produced by trifles. 

All men recognize the right of revolution, that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable.