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.
—Henry David Thoreau, 1849Quotes
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
—John F. Kennedy, 1962Every revolution by force only puts more violent means of enslavement into the hands of the persons in power.
—Leo Tolstoy, 1893All modern revolutions have ended in a reinforcement of the power of the state.
—Albert Camus, 1951The main object of a revolution is the liberation of man, not the interpretation and application of some transcendental ideology.
—Jean Genet, 1983Insurgents are like conquerors: they must go forward; the moment they are stopped, they are lost.
—Duke of Wellington, c. 1819It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.
—Dolores Ibárruri, 1936The most radical revolutionary will become a conservative on the day after the revolution.
—Hannah Arendt, 1970The spirit of revolution, the spirit of insurrection, is a spirit radically opposed to liberty.
—François Guizot, 1830Rebellion is no less a sin than divination.
—Book of Samuel, c. 550 BCRebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.
—Benjamin Franklin, 1776If there was ever a just war since the world began, it is this in which America is now engaged.
—Thomas Paine, 1778To cast aside obedience, and by popular violence to incite revolt, is treason, not against man only, but against God.
—Pope Leo XIII, 1885