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Quotes

Governments 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 BC

There 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, 1665

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.

—Mikhail Bakunin, 1871

If not us, who? If not now, when?

—Czech slogan, 1989

Revolutions are not about trifles, but they are produced by trifles. 

—Aristotle, c. 350 BC

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

—Dolores Ibárruri, 1936

Revolutions are celebrated when they are no longer dangerous. 

—Pierre Boulez, 1989

An oppressed people are authorized, whenever they can, to rise and break their fetters.

—Henry Clay, 1842

The most radical revolutionary will become a conservative on the day after the revolution.

—Hannah Arendt, 1970
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