The successful revolutionary is a statesman, the unsuccessful one a criminal.
—Erich Fromm, 1941Quotes
All civilization has from time to time become a thin crust over a volcano of revolution.
—Havelock Ellis, 1921Revolutions are celebrated when they are no longer dangerous.
—Pierre Boulez, 1989This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it.
—Abraham Lincoln, 1861Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.
—Marcus Tullius Cicero, 63 BCRevolution begins in putting on bright colors.
—Tennessee Williams, 1944Governments 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 children of the revolution are always ungrateful, and the revolution must be grateful that it is so.
—Ursula K. Le Guin, 1983To 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, 1871All modern revolutions have ended in a reinforcement of the power of the state.
—Albert Camus, 1951The 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, 1970All revolutions devour their own children.
—Ernst Röhm, 1933Who draws his sword against his prince must throw away the scabbard.
—James Howell, 1659