Revolution begins in putting on bright colors.
—Tennessee Williams, 1944Quotes
If not us, who? If not now, when?
—Czech slogan, 1989Rebellion is no less a sin than divination.
—Book of Samuel, c. 550 BCIn 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.
—William Tecumseh Sherman, 1864Revolutions never go backward.
—Thomas Skidmore, 1829All 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, 1849The peasants alone are revolutionary, for they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. The starving peasant, outside the class system, is the first among the exploited to discover that only violence pays. For him there is no compromise, no possible coming to terms.
—Frantz Fanon, 1961Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.
—Benjamin Franklin, 1776Revolutions have never lightened the burden of tyranny, they have only shifted it to another shoulder.
—George Bernard Shaw, 1903To cast aside obedience, and by popular violence to incite revolt, is treason, not against man only, but against God.
—Pope Leo XIII, 1885The 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 not about trifles, but they are produced by trifles.
—Aristotle, c. 350 BC