Who draws his sword against his prince must throw away the scabbard.
—James Howell, 1659Quotes
All modern revolutions have ended in a reinforcement of the power of the state.
—Albert Camus, 1951It is better to die on your feet than to live on your knees.
—Dolores Ibárruri, 1936Rebellion is no less a sin than divination.
—Book of Samuel, c. 550 BCThe 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.
—Frantz Fanon, 1961No one makes a revolution by himself, and there are some revolutions which humanity accomplishes without quite knowing how, because it is everybody who takes them in hand.
—George Sand, 1851Governments are not overthrown by the poor, who have no power, but by the rich—when they are insulted by their inferiors and cannot obtain justice.
—Dionysius of Halicarnassus, c. 20 BCInsurgents are like conquerors: they must go forward; the moment they are stopped, they are lost.
—Duke of Wellington, c. 1819All civilization has from time to time become a thin crust over a volcano of revolution.
—Havelock Ellis, 1921