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.

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.

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.

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

Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.

All civilization has from time to time become a thin crust over a volcano of revolution.

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

Revolutions never go backward.

Revolutions are celebrated when they are no longer dangerous. 

And then, sir, there is this consideration: that if the abuse be enormous, nature will rise up and, claiming her original rights, overturn a corrupt political system.

Revolutionaries are greater sticklers for formality than conservatives.

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