The successful revolutionary is a statesman, the unsuccessful one a criminal.

The only justification of rebellion is success.

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

All modern revolutions have ended in a reinforcement of the power of the state.

All revolutions devour their own children.

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

If there was ever a just war since the world began, it is this in which America is now engaged.

Insurrection of thought always precedes insurrection of arms.

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.

Revolutionaries are greater sticklers for formality than conservatives.

Nothing is more unpredictable than the mob, nothing more obscure than public opinion, nothing more deceptive than the whole political system.

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

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.