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.

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

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.

Revolutions never go backward.

Revolution begins in putting on bright colors.

The main object of a revolution is the liberation of man, not the interpretation and application of some transcendental ideology.

The most radical revolutionary will become a conservative on the day after the revolution.

Revolution can never be forecast; it cannot be foretold; it comes of itself. Revolution is brewing and is bound to flare up.

To cast aside obedience, and by popular violence to incite revolt, is treason, not against man only, but against God.