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.
—Oscar Wilde, 1891Quotes
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, 1970Revolutions never go backward.
—Thomas Skidmore, 1829Revolution begins in putting on bright colors.
—Tennessee Williams, 1944Who draws his sword against his prince must throw away the scabbard.
—James Howell, 1659The main object of a revolution is the liberation of man, not the interpretation and application of some transcendental ideology.
—Jean Genet, 1983Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.
—Benjamin Franklin, 1776Revolutions are not made by men in spectacles.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1871Governments are not overthrown by the poor, who have no power, but by the rich—when they are insulted by their inferiors and cannot obtain justice.
—Dionysius of Halicarnassus, c. 20 BCThe spirit of revolution, the spirit of insurrection, is a spirit radically opposed to liberty.
—François Guizot, 1830And 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.
—Samuel Johnson, 1791Revolutions are not about trifles, but they are produced by trifles.
—Aristotle, c. 350 BCThe most radical revolutionary will become a conservative on the day after the revolution.
—Hannah Arendt, 1970