Revolutions are celebrated when they are no longer dangerous.
—Pierre Boulez, 1989Quotes
The only justification of rebellion is success.
—Thomas B. Reed, 1878If not us, who? If not now, when?
—Czech slogan, 1989The spirit of revolution, the spirit of insurrection, is a spirit radically opposed to liberty.
—François Guizot, 1830I have been ever of the opinion that revolutions are not to be evaded.
—Benjamin Disraeli, 1844Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
—John F. Kennedy, 1962All 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, 1849Rebellion is no less a sin than divination.
—Book of Samuel, c. 550 BCThe most radical revolutionary will become a conservative on the day after the revolution.
—Hannah Arendt, 1970Revolutions never go backward.
—Thomas Skidmore, 1829An oppressed people are authorized, whenever they can, to rise and break their fetters.
—Henry Clay, 1842Revolutions are not made by men in spectacles.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1871I 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.
—Fidel Castro, 1959