Archive

Quotes

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

—Vladimir Lenin, 1918

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

—James Howell, 1659

The main object of a revolution is the liberation of man, not the interpretation and application of some transcendental ideology.

—Jean Genet, 1983

Revolutions are always verbose.

—Leon Trotsky, 1933

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

—Ursula K. Le Guin, 1983

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

—John F. Kennedy, 1962

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.

—Michel de Montaigne, 1580

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

—Albert Camus, 1951

Revolution begins in putting on bright colors.

—Tennessee Williams, 1944

The 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, 1970

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.

—Dionysius of Halicarnassus, c. 20 BC

To cast aside obedience, and by popular violence to incite revolt, is treason, not against man only, but against God.

—Pope Leo XIII, 1885

I have been ever of the opinion that revolutions are not to be evaded.

—Benjamin Disraeli, 1844