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, 1851Quotes
To cast aside obedience, and by popular violence to incite revolt, is treason, not against man only, but against God.
—Pope Leo XIII, 1885Disobedience, 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.
—Oscar Wilde, 1891There is a kind of revolution of so general a character that it changes the mental tastes as well as the fortunes of the world.
—La Rochefoucauld, 1665The only justification of rebellion is success.
—Thomas B. Reed, 1878Revolutionaries are greater sticklers for formality than conservatives.
—Italo Calvino, 1957Revolution can never be forecast; it cannot be foretold; it comes of itself. Revolution is brewing and is bound to flare up.
—Vladimir Lenin, 1918All civilization has from time to time become a thin crust over a volcano of revolution.
—Havelock Ellis, 1921To 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, 1871The 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, 1844Revolutions are always verbose.
—Leon Trotsky, 1933Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
—John F. Kennedy, 1962