Insurrection of thought always precedes insurrection of arms.
—Wendell Phillips, 1859Quotes
Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.
—John F. Kennedy, 1962Revolutions are not made by men in spectacles.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, 1871All successful revolutions are the kicking in of a rotten door. The violence of revolutions is the violence of men who charge into a vacuum.
—John Kenneth Galbraith, 1977There 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, 1665To 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, 1871Revolution begins in putting on bright colors.
—Tennessee Williams, 1944Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.
—Marcus Tullius Cicero, 63 BCAll modern revolutions have ended in a reinforcement of the power of the state.
—Albert Camus, 1951