I have been ever of the opinion that revolutions are not to be evaded.

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.

Insurgents are like conquerors: they must go forward; the moment they are stopped, they are lost.

Revolutions are always verbose.

All successful revolutions are the kicking in of a rotten door. The violence of revolutions is the violence of men who charge into a vacuum.

The successful revolutionary is a statesman, the unsuccessful one a criminal.

All modern revolutions have ended in a reinforcement of the power of the state.

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. 

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