Revolutionaries are greater sticklers for formality than conservatives.

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 successful revolutions are the kicking in of a rotten door. The violence of revolutions is the violence of men who charge into a vacuum.

The only justification of rebellion is success.

All modern revolutions have ended in a reinforcement of the power of the state.

The children of the revolution are always ungrateful, and the revolution must be grateful that it is so.

Who draws his sword against his prince must throw away the scabbard.

Revolutions have never lightened the burden of tyranny, they have only shifted it to another shoulder.

Insurgents are like conquerors: they must go forward; the moment they are stopped, they are lost.

Revolutions are not made by men in spectacles.

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.

The spirit of revolution, the spirit of insurrection, is a spirit radically opposed to liberty.

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