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Quotes

Revolutions are always verbose.

—Leon Trotsky, 1933

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

—Havelock Ellis, 1921

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

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

The peasants alone are revolutionary, for they have nothing to lose and everything to gain. The starving peasant, outside the class system, is the first among the exploited to discover that only violence pays. For him there is no compromise, no possible coming to terms. 

—Frantz Fanon, 1961

Revolutions are not made by men in spectacles.

—Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1871

It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.

—Dolores Ibárruri, 1936

The only justification of rebellion is success.

—Thomas B. Reed, 1878

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

—James Howell, 1659
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