To cast aside obedience, and by popular violence to incite revolt, is treason, not against man only, but against God.
—Pope Leo XIII, 1885
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Quotes
Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.
—Benjamin Franklin, 1776If not us, who? If not now, when?
—Czech slogan, 1989Make the revolution a parent of settlement and not a nursery of future revolutions.
—Edmund Burke, 1790I have been ever of the opinion that revolutions are not to be evaded.
—Benjamin Disraeli, 1844All 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, 1849And 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, 1791Revolution begins in putting on bright colors.
—Tennessee Williams, 1944An oppressed people are authorized, whenever they can, to rise and break their fetters.
—Henry Clay, 1842