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

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.

Revolution begins in putting on bright colors.

An oppressed people are authorized, whenever they can, to rise and break their fetters.

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

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.

Every revolution by force only puts more violent means of enslavement into the hands of the persons in power.

Revolutions never go backward.

This country, with its institutions, belongs to the people who inhabit it. Whenever they shall grow weary of the existing government, they can exercise their constitutional right of amending it, or their revolutionary right to dismember or overthrow it.