Those who give the first shock to a state are the first overwhelmed in its ruin; the fruits of public commotion are seldom enjoyed by him who was the first mover; he only beats the water for another’s net.

All 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.

Rebellion is no less a sin than divination.

Revolutions are always verbose.

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.

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

All revolutions devour their own children.

An oppressed people are authorized, whenever they can, to rise and break their fetters.

Make the revolution a parent of settlement and not a nursery of future revolutions.

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.

If not us, who? If not now, when?

Revolutions are celebrated when they are no longer dangerous. 

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