Hoyt & Roberts, comps. Hoyt’s New Cyclopedia of Practical Quotations. 1922.
Revolution
Revolutions are not about trifles, but spring from trifles.
Aristotle—Politics. Bk. VII. Ch. IV.
A reform is a correction of abuses; a revolution is a transfer of power.
Bulwer-Lytton—Speech. In the House of Commons, on the Reform Bill. (1866).
Voulez-vous donc qu’on vous fasse des révolutions à l’eau-rose?
Do you think then that revolutions are made with rose water?
Sebastian Chamfort to Marmotel, who regretted the excesses of the Revolution.
Ce n’est pas une révolte, c’est une révolution.
It is not a revolt, it is a revolution.
Duc de Liancourt to Louis XVI, July 14, 1789. Found in Carlyle’s French Revolution. Pt. I. Bk. V. Ch. VII.
Je suis le signet qui marque la page où la révolution s’est arrêtée; mais quand je serai mort, elle tournera le feuillet et reprendra sa marche.
I am the signet which marks the page where the revolution has been stopped; but when I die it will turn the page and resume its course.
Napoleon I. to Count Molé.
Revolutions are not made; they come.
Wendell Phillips—Speech. Public Opinion. Jan. 28, 1852.
Revolutions never go backward.
Wendell Phillips—Speech. Progress. Feb. 17, 1861.
I know and all the world knows, that revolutions never go backwards.
Seward—Speech on the Irrepressible Conflict. Oct., 1858.
O God! that one might read the book of fate,
And see the revolutions of the times
Make mountains level, and the continent
Weary of solid firmness, melt itself
Into the sea!
Henry IV. Pt. II. Act III. Sc. 1. L. 45.
Seditiosissimus quisque ignavus.
The most seditious is the most cowardly.
Tacitus—Annales. IV. 34.