There is a kind of revolution of so general a character that it changes the mental tastes as well as the fortunes of the world.

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

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.

Revolutions are celebrated when they are no longer dangerous. 

Revolutionaries are greater sticklers for formality than conservatives.

Make the revolution a parent of settlement and not a nursery of future revolutions.

Who draws his sword against his prince must throw away the scabbard.

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.

The spirit of revolution, the spirit of insurrection, is a spirit radically opposed to liberty.

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.

Revolutions are not made by men in spectacles.

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.

No one makes a revolution by himself, and there are some revolutions which humanity accomplishes without quite knowing how, because it is everybody who takes them in hand.