If there was ever a just war since the world began, it is this in which America is now engaged.

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.

Revolution can never be forecast; it cannot be foretold; it comes of itself. Revolution is brewing and is bound to flare up.

It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.

Revolutions are celebrated when they are no longer dangerous. 

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

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

Those 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.

Governments 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.

The only justification of rebellion is success.

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

Revolutions are always verbose.

To 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.