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.
—Michel de Montaigne, 1580Quotes
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.
—Henry David Thoreau, 1849Rebellion is no less a sin than divination.
—Book of Samuel, c. 550 BCRevolutions are always verbose.
—Leon Trotsky, 1933To 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, 1871To cast aside obedience, and by popular violence to incite revolt, is treason, not against man only, but against God.
—Pope Leo XIII, 1885All revolutions devour their own children.
—Ernst Röhm, 1933An oppressed people are authorized, whenever they can, to rise and break their fetters.
—Henry Clay, 1842Make the revolution a parent of settlement and not a nursery of future revolutions.
—Edmund Burke, 1790Disobedience, 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, 1891If not us, who? If not now, when?
—Czech slogan, 1989Revolutions are celebrated when they are no longer dangerous.
—Pierre Boulez, 1989The main object of a revolution is the liberation of man, not the interpretation and application of some transcendental ideology.
—Jean Genet, 1983