Archive

Quotes

Rebellion is no less a sin than divination.

—Book of Samuel, c. 550 BC

Revolutionaries are greater sticklers for formality than conservatives.

—Italo Calvino, 1957

To 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, 1871

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

—François Guizot, 1830

The only justification of rebellion is success.

—Thomas B. Reed, 1878

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.

—George Sand, 1851

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.

—Samuel Johnson, 1791

Revolutions are always verbose.

—Leon Trotsky, 1933

It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.

—Dolores Ibárruri, 1936

Revolutions are celebrated when they are no longer dangerous. 

—Pierre Boulez, 1989

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

—Pope Leo XIII, 1885

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

—Jean Genet, 1983

The successful revolutionary is a statesman, the unsuccessful one a criminal.

—Erich Fromm, 1941