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Quotes

Revolutions are celebrated when they are no longer dangerous. 

—Pierre Boulez, 1989

There is a kind of revolution of so general a character that it changes the mental tastes as well as the fortunes of the world.

—La Rochefoucauld, 1665

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.

—Samuel Johnson, 1791

Insurrection of thought always precedes insurrection of arms.

—Wendell Phillips, 1859

The successful revolutionary is a statesman, the unsuccessful one a criminal.

—Erich Fromm, 1941

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

—John F. Kennedy, 1962

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.

—Oscar Wilde, 1891

I have been ever of the opinion that revolutions are not to be evaded.

—Benjamin Disraeli, 1844

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.

—Mikhail Bakunin, 1871

Revolutions are always verbose.

—Leon Trotsky, 1933

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, 1849

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

—Albert Camus, 1951

Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.

—Benjamin Franklin, 1776