Every revolution by force only puts more violent means of enslavement into the hands of the persons in power.

Revolutionaries are greater sticklers for formality than conservatives.

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.

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.

In revolutions men fall and rise. Long before this war is over, much as you hear me praised now, you may hear me cursed and insulted.

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

Revolutions are always verbose.

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

Revolutions are celebrated when they are no longer dangerous. 

Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.

All revolutions devour their own children.

I began revolution with eighty-two men. If I had to do it again, I do it with ten or fifteen and absolute faith. It does not matter how small you are if you have faith and plan of action.

Insurgents are like conquerors: they must go forward; the moment they are stopped, they are lost.