best quotations about
Revolution |
and Rebellion
| 54 quotes | Visits: 14,876 |
Quotations
 | In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. — George Orwell, 1903-1950, British writer 19 likes |
 | 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 14 likes |
 | When we revolted, we said first for our Christian Faith and then for the Nation. — Theodoros Kolokotronis, 1770-1843, Hero of the Greek Revolution 14 likes |
 | 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 13 likes |
 | You cannot make a revolution in white gloves. — Vladimir Lenin, 1870-1924, Soviet revolutionary & leader 12 likes |
 | Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable. — John Kennedy, 1917-1963, American President [1961-1963] 11 likes |
 | I rebel — therefore we exist. — Albert Camus, 1913-1960, French writer, Nobel 1957 11 likes |
 | When all other rights are taken away, the right of rebellion is made perfect. — Thomas Paine, 1737-1809, English-American writer 11 likes |
 | 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 10 likes |
 | Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime. — Aristotle, 384-322 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher 10 likes |
 | A revolution is an idea, taken up by bayonets. — Napoleon, 1769-1821, French Emperor 8 likes |
 | Whoever did not live in the years neighboring 1789 does not know what the pleasure of living means. — Talleyrand, 1754-1838, French statesman & diplomat (1789, the year of the French Revolution) 8 likes |
 | It is not actual suffering but a taste of better things which excites people to revolt. — Eric Hoffer, 1902-1983, American writer & philosopher 8 likes |
 | Give them bread and circuses and they will never revolt. — Juvenal, 1st-2nd cent. AD, Roman satiric poet 8 likes |
 | If you think about it, Christ is the only truly successful anarchist. — André Malraux, 1901-1976, French writer & statesman 8 likes |
| It is in prison … that one becomes a real revolutionary. — Vladimir Lenin, 1870-1924, Soviet revolutionary & leader 7 likes |
| 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 7 likes |
| Without Revolutionary theory, there can be no Revolutionary Movement. — Vladimir Lenin, 1870-1924, Soviet revolutionary & leader 7 likes |
 | 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 7 likes |
| 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 6 likes |
| A riot is the language of the unheard. — Martin Luther King, 1929-1968, American leader in the Civil Rights Movement 6 likes |
| Variety made the Revolution. Liberty was just a pretext. — Napoleon, 1769-1821, French Emperor 5 likes |
 | The Russian Revolution is the French Revolution which arrived late, because of the cold. — Salvador Dali, 1904-1989, Spanish painter 5 likes |
| From the moment you have a plan, you are not a revolutionary anymore. — Daniel Cohn-Bendit, German politician & activist 4 likes |
 | The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. — Karl Marx, 1818-1883, German philosopher 4 likes |
 | 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] 4 likes |
 | 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 4 likes |
 | Every gesture is a revolutionary act. — Fernando Pessoa, 1888-1935, Portuguese poet & writer 4 likes |
 | Revolution can only exist where there is consciousness. — Jean Jaures, 1859-1914, French Socialist leader 3 likes |
 | Revolution: In politics, an abrupt change in the form of misgovernment. — Ambrose Bierce, 1842–1914, American writer 3 likes |
 | The purity of a revolution can last a fortnight. — Jean Cocteau, 1889-1963, French artist 3 likes |
 | War in the castles, peace in the huts. — Nicolas Chamfort, 1740-1794, French writer (one of the slogans of the French Revolution) 3 likes |
 | 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 2 likes |
| Those who launch revolutions are always the cuckolds of history. — Daniel Cohn-Bendit, German politician & activist 2 likes |
 | I am convinced that the riots and student disorders must be linked to a biological need. — Eugene Ionesco, 1912-1994, French-Romanian playwright 2 likes |
| A heresy can spring only from a system that is in full vigor. — Eric Hoffer, 1902-1983, American writer & philosopher 2 likes |
 | The French Revolution was the most important step for mankind since the advent of Jesus Christ. — Victor Hugo, 1802-1885, French writer 2 likes |
 | Revolutionaries are more formalistic than conservatives. |
 | 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. |
 | The history of the 9 Thermidor is not long: a few scoundrels killed a few scoundrels. — Joseph De Maistre, 1753-1821, Savoyard diplomat & philosopher (27 July 1794 – Robespierre and his supporters were arrested and guillotined) |
 | Revolutions waste a lot of time. |
 | 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. |
 | I am against revolutions because they always involve a return to the status quo. |
| 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. |
| Revolutions are not made with rose water. |
 | The word “revolution” is a word for which you kill, for which you die, for which you send the masses of the workers to death, but which ultimately has no meaning. |
| It is not religion but revolution which is the opium of the people. |
 | Revolutionary intellectuals have the historic mission of inventing the vocabulary and the themes for the next tyranny. |
| The French Revolution has been the highest wave of the Gnostic tide. |
Stupid Quotes
 | Another day without something worth mentioning. — Luis XVI, 1754-1793, King of France [1774-1792] (an entry in his diary on the first day of the French Revolution, 1789) 6 likes |
Special Quotes
 | ¡Ya Basta! Enough is enough! — Motto of various Latin American insurgent groups, incl. Zapatistas in Mexico 2 likes |
Movie Quotes
 | - “Hey, Johnny, what are you rebelling against? - “Whaddya got?” — from the film The Wild One (1953) 4 likes |
 | - When is the revolution? - Six months. - Six months? I have a rented car! — from the film Bananas (1971) 3 likes |
