The brutalities of progress are called revolutions. When they are over we realize this: that the human race has been roughly handled, but that it has advanced.
—Victor Hugo (1802–85) French Novelist
A great revolution is never the fault of the people, but of the government.
—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832) German Poet
No 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 (1804–76) French Novelist, Dramatist
In revolutions the occasions may be trifling but great interests are at stake.
—Aristotle (384BCE–322BCE) Ancient Greek Philosopher, Scholar
Whether a revolutions succeeds or fails people of great hearts will always be sacrificed to it.
—Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) German Poet, Writer
We used to think that revolutions are the cause of change. Actually it is the other way around: change prepares the ground for revolution.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
Revolutions are not made, they come. A revolution is as natural a growth as an oak. It comes out of the past. Its foundations are laid far back.
—Wendell Phillips (1811–84) American Abolitionist, Lawyer, Orator
When the People contend for their liberty, they seldom get anything for their Victory but new Masters.
—George Savile, 1st Marquess of Halifax (1633–95) British Statesman, Writer, Politician
If there is any period one would desire to be born in, is it not the age of Revolution; when the old and the new stand side by side, and admit of being compared; when the energies of all men are searched by fear and by hope; when the historic glories of the old can be compensated by the rich possibilities of the new era?
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–82) American Philosopher
The dead have been awakened—shall I sleep? The world’s at war with tyrants—shall I crouch? the harvest’s ripe—and shall I pause to reap? I slumber not; the thorn is in my couch; Each day a trumpet soundeth in mine ear, its echo in my heart.
—Lord Byron (George Gordon Byron) (1788–1824) English Romantic Poet
The successful revolutionary is a statesman, the unsuccessful one a criminal.
—Erich Fromm (1900–80) German-American Psychoanalyst, Social Philosopher
On the first day of a revolution he is a treasure; on the second he ought to be shot.
—Unknown
Revolutions are not made by men in spectacles.
—Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809–94) American Physician, Essayist
History teaches us that the great revolutions aren’t started by people who are utterly down and out, without hope and vision. They take place when people begin to live a little better—and when they see how much yet remains to be achieved.
—Hubert Humphrey (1911–78) American Head of State, Politician
You said, “They’re harmless dreamers and they’re loved by the people.”—“What,” I asked you, “is harmless about a dreamer, and what,” I asked you, “is harmless about the love of the people? Revolution only needs good dreamers who remember their dreams.”
—Tennessee Williams (1911–83) American Playwright
A man may build himself a throne of bayonets, but he can’t sit on it.
—William Ralph Inge (1860–1954) English Anglican Clergyman, Priest, Mystic
The revolutionary spirit is mighty convenient in this, that it frees one from all scruples as regards ideas. Its hard absolute optimism is repulsive to my mind by the menace of fanaticism and intolerance it contains. No doubt one should smile at these things; but, imperfect Esthete, I am no better Philosopher. All claim to special righteousness awakens in me that scorn and anger from which a philosophical mind should be free.
—Joseph Conrad (1857–1924) Polish-born British Novelist
All partisan movements add to the fullness of our understanding of society as a whole. They never detract; or, in any case, one must not allow them to do so. Experience adds to experience.
—Alice Walker (b.1944) American Novelist, Activist
The more there are riots, the more repressive action will take place, and the more we face the danger of a right-wing takeover and eventually a fascist society.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
Disturbances in society are never more fearful than when those who are stirring up the trouble can use the pretext of religion to mask their true designs.
—Denis Diderot (1713–84) French Philosopher, Writer
In a revolution, as in a novel, the most difficult part to invent is the end.
—Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–59) French Historian, Political Scientist
You can never have a revolution in order to establish a democracy. You must have a democracy in order to have a revolution.
—G. K. Chesterton (1874–1936) English Journalist, Novelist, Essayist, Poet
Riots are the voices of the unheard.
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–68) American Civil Rights Leader, Clergyman
More and more, revolution has found itself delivered into the hands of its bureaucrats and doctrinaires on the one hand, and to the enfeebled and bewildered masses on the other.
—Albert Camus (1913–60) Algerian-born French Philosopher, Dramatist, Essayist, Novelist, Author
The main effect of a real revolution is perhaps that it sweeps away those who do not know how to wish, and brings to the front men with insatiable appetites for action, power and all that the world has to offer.
—Eric Hoffer (1902–83) American Philosopher, Author
The most radical revolutionary will become a conservative the day after the revolution.
—Hannah Arendt (1906–75) German-American Philosopher, Political Theorist
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.
—John Kenneth Galbraith (1908–2006) Canadian-Born American Economist
Revolution today is taken for granted, and in consequence becomes rather dull.
—Wyndham Lewis (1882–1957) English Novelist, Painter, Critic
If we glance at the most important revolutions in history, we see at once that the greatest number of these originated in the periodical revolutions of the human mind.
—Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835) German Philosopher, Linguist, Statesman
Revolution: in politics, an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment.
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1913) American Short-story Writer, Journalist
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