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

Revolutions never go backward.

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 are always verbose.

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

The spirit of revolution, the spirit of insurrection, is a spirit radically opposed to liberty.

To 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.

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. 

Rebellion is no less a sin than divination.