Revolution and Rebellion Quotes

 

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When we revolted, we said first for our Christian Faith and then for the Nation.

—  Theodoros Kolokotronis, 1770-1843, Hero of the Greek Revolution

 

I rebel — therefore we exist.

—  Albert Camus, 1913-1960, French writer, Nobel 1957

 

When all other rights are taken away, the right of rebellion is made perfect.

—  Thomas Paine, 1737-1809, English-American writer

 

Freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

—  Martin Luther King, 1929-1968, American leader in the Civil Rights Movement

 

Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats.

—  H.L. Mencken, 1880-1956, American columnist & cultural critic

 

We want a new and original world. We reject a world where the certainty of not dying of hunger is exchanged against the risk of perishing of boredom.

—  Daniel Cohn-Bendit, German politician & activist

 

You cannot make a revolution in white gloves.

—  Vladimir Lenin, 1870-1924, Soviet revolutionary & leader

 

One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship.

—  George Orwell, 1903-1950, British writer

 

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

—  John Kennedy, 1917-1963, American President [1961-1963]

 

If you think about it, Christ is the only truly successful anarchist.

—  André Malraux, 1901-1976, French writer & statesman

 

A revolution is an idea, taken up by bayonets.

—  Napoleon, 1769-1821, French Emperor

 

It is in prison … that one becomes a real revolutionary.

—  Vladimir Lenin, 1870-1924, Soviet revolutionary & leader

 

Whoever did not live in the years neighboring 1789 does not know what the pleasure of living means.

—  Talleyrand, 1754-1838, French statesman & diplomat

 

Without Revolutionary theory, there can be no Revolutionary Movement.

—  Vladimir Lenin, 1870-1924, Soviet revolutionary & leader

 

The only real revolution is in the enlightenment of the mind and the improvement of character, the only real emancipation is individual, and the only real revolutionaries are philosophers and saints.

—  Will Durant, 1885-1981, American historian & philosopher

 

Inferiors revolt in order that they may be equal, and equals that they may be superior. Such is the state of mind which creates revolutions.

—  Aristotle, 384-322 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher

 

In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

—  George Orwell, 1903-1950, British writer

 

A riot is the language of the unheard.

—  Martin Luther King, 1929-1968, American leader in the Civil Rights Movement

 

Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.

—  Aristotle, 384-322 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher

 

From the moment you have a plan, you are not a revolutionary anymore.

—  Daniel Cohn-Bendit, German politician & activist

 

It is not actual suffering but a taste of better things which excites people to revolt.

—  Eric Hoffer, 1902-1983, American writer & philosopher

 

Give them bread and circuses and they will never revolt.

—  Juvenal, 1st-2nd cent. AD, Roman satiric poet

 

The Russian Revolution is the French Revolution which arrived late, because of the cold.

—  Salvador Dali, 1904-1989, Spanish painter

 

The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains.

—  Karl Marx, 1818-1883, German philosopher

 

The purity of a revolution can last a fortnight.

—  Jean Cocteau, 1889-1963, French artist

 

I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical.

—  Thomas Jefferson, 1749-1826, American President [1801-1809]

 

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, American-Canadian economist

 

Variety made the Revolution. Liberty was just a pretext.

—  Napoleon, 1769-1821, French Emperor

 

The reformer for whom the world is not good enough finds himself shoulder to shoulder with him that is not good enough for the world.

—  George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950, Irish writer, Nobel 1925

 

Those who launch revolutions are always the cuckolds of history.

—  Daniel Cohn-Bendit, German politician & activist

 

Revolution can only exist where there is consciousness.

—  Jean Jaures, 1859-1914, French Socialist leader

 

Revolution: In politics, an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment.

—  Ambrose Bierce, 1842–1914, American writer

 

I am convinced that the riots and student disorders must be linked to a biological need.

—  Eugene Ionesco, 1912-1994, French-Romanian playwright

 

A heresy can spring only from a system that is in full vigor.

—  Eric Hoffer, 1902-1983, American writer & philosopher

 

The French Revolution was the most important step for mankind since the advent of Jesus Christ.

—  Victor Hugo, 1802-1885, French writer

 

Every gesture is a revolutionary act.

—  Fernando Pessoa, 1888-1935, Portuguese poet & writer

 

Revolutionaries are more formalistic than conservatives.

—  Italo Calvino, 1923-1985, Italian writer

 

As a flood spreads wider and wider, the water becomes shallower and dirtier. The Revolution evaporates, and leaves behind only the slime of a new bureaucracy.

—  Franz Kafka, 1883-1924, Bohemian writer

 

The history of the 9 Thermidor is not long: a few scoundrels killed a few scoundrels.

—  Joseph De Maistre, 1753-1821, Savoyard diplomat & philosopher

 

Revolutions waste a lot of time.

—  Henry de Montherlant, 1895-1972, French writer

 

The Revolutionary's Utopia, which in appearance represents a complete break with the past, is always modeled on some image of the Lost Paradise, of a legendary Golden Age... All utopias are fed from the source of mythology; the social engineers' blueprints are merely revised editions of the ancient text.

—  Arthur Koestler, 1905-1983, Hungarian-British writer

 

I am against revolutions because they always involve a return to the status quo.

—  Henry Miller, 1891-1980, American writer

 

All about us we see a world in revolt; but revolt is negative, a mere finishing-off process. In the midst of destruction we carry with us also our creation, our hopes, our strength, our urge to be fulfilled.

—  Henry Miller, 1891-1980, American writer

 

Revolutionary intellectuals have the historic mission of inventing the vocabulary and the themes for the next tyranny.

—  Nicolas Gomez Davila, 1913-1994, Colombian writer

 

The French Revolution has been the highest wave of the Gnostic tide.

—  Nicolas Gomez Davila, 1913-1994, Colombian writer