All civilization has from time to time become a thin crust over a volcano of revolution.

To cast aside obedience, and by popular violence to incite revolt, is treason, not against man only, but against God.

Who draws his sword against his prince must throw away the scabbard.

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

In revolutions men fall and rise. Long before this war is over, much as you hear me praised now, you may hear me cursed and insulted.

All revolutions devour their own children.

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.

Insurgents are like conquerors: they must go forward; the moment they are stopped, they are lost.

Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made—through disobedience and through rebellion.

I began revolution with eighty-two men. If I had to do it again, I do it with ten or fifteen and absolute faith. It does not matter how small you are if you have faith and plan of action.

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

Revolutions are celebrated when they are no longer dangerous. 

And then, sir, there is this consideration: that if the abuse be enormous, nature will rise up and, claiming her original rights, overturn a corrupt political system.