Revolution can never be forecast; it cannot be foretold; it comes of itself. Revolution is brewing and is bound to flare up.
—Vladimir Lenin, 1918Quotes
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, 1891If there was ever a just war since the world began, it is this in which America is now engaged.
—Thomas Paine, 1778It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.
—Dolores Ibárruri, 1936The only justification of rebellion is success.
—Thomas B. Reed, 1878Insurrection of thought always precedes insurrection of arms.
—Wendell Phillips, 1859Those 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, 1580To cast aside obedience, and by popular violence to incite revolt, is treason, not against man only, but against God.
—Pope Leo XIII, 1885Insurgents are like conquerors: they must go forward; the moment they are stopped, they are lost.
—Duke of Wellington, c. 1819The 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, 1862All successful revolutions are the kicking in of a rotten door. The violence of revolutions is the violence of men who charge into a vacuum.
—John Kenneth Galbraith, 1977Rebellion is no less a sin than divination.
—Book of Samuel, c. 550 BCRevolutions never go backward.
—Thomas Skidmore, 1829