His [David] depiction of the Tennis Court Oath: it’s a picture filled with noise, the roar of the oath, the crash of a great electrical storm. The Revolution as an unstoppable force of Nature. And at the centre of it all an enormous space ... filled with light, the rushing wind … An idea so big it dwarfs the humans who enact it. Simon Schama’s Power of Art: David
There was no going back. From now on David and his art belonged to the Revolution. ibid.
Revolutions are not made with rose-water. Early 19th century proverb
Art is either plagiarism or revolution. Paul Gauguin
If Jesus were involved in revolution, this could explain why a gap exists in our knowledge of his life. Mysteries of the Bible s3e10: The Lost Years of Jesus, A&E 1996
The revolution got sold, Ronnie. The Sopranos s4e7: Watching Too Much Television starring James Gandolfini & Lorriane Bracco & Edie Falco & Michael Imperioli & Dominic Chianese & Steven van Zandt & Tony Sirico & Robert Iler et al, black bloke, HBO 2002
You’ve got to expect a bit of killing, a bit of dying, in a revolution. Fifty Dead Men Walking 2008 starring Jim Sturgess & Ben Kingsley & Rose McGowan & Kevin Zegers & Kris Edlund & Natalie Press & Paschal Friel et al, friend
Reform is insufficient and revolution is required. The Manifesto, Paragraph 86. Unabomber: The True Story 1996 starring Dean Stockwell & Robert Hays & Tobin Bell & Victoria Mallory & Bill Mondy & Michael Flynn & Scott Wilkinson & Noel De Souza & Joyce Cohen et al, director Jon Purdy
Back in Germany itself revolution was afoot. Soldiers and sailors mutinied and deserted. Michael Palin, Timewatch: The Last Day of World War I, BBC 2008
I joined the party because I was revolutionary, not because of any ideological nonsense. Hermann Goering
Our forefathers would think it is time for a revolution. This is why they revolted in the first place. They revolted against much more mild oppression. Ron Paul, US Senator
These are volatile times, your Highness. The American Revolution lost your father the colonies; the French Revolution murdered brave King Louis, and there are tremendous rumblings in Prussia. Although that might be something to do with the sausages. Blackadder III: Sense & Senility, Blackadder to Prince, BBC 1997
Nature never intended me to be a partisan leader ... Every instinct of mine would indicate that I was meant to be a dyed-in-the-wool Tory, or even a bishop, rather than the leader of a revolution. Eamon de Valera
What makes revolutionary thought unique is its clarity and dignity, and its clear grasp of freedom and justice: simple, clear words that are understood without the need for any help from elite writers or thinkers. Nawal El Saadawi
Great! This is it! I’ve been waiting two hours for this. It’s a Revolution! Revolution! Blood runs! Flags wave. Come on everybody, throw down your tools and throw up the barricades. Come on. Run into the Winter Palace. Run into the Winter Palace and stand on the table waving bits of paper at each other. Yes! Yes! ... I’ve got everything ready. In ten minutes time there’s going to be a massive rock-n-roll benefit gig in the drawing room, right, and right at the climax the oppressed working classes of this house – that’s you mainly – rise up and seize control of the state. Brilliant! Revolution! Watch out Norman Tebbit! The Young Ones s1e2: Oil, Rick in cellar, BBC 1982
Rick: Hi, Sputnik. Or can I call you comrade? Now, you know the plan, don’t you? Right at the peak of the gig we incite the masses to rise and we burn the Reichstag! Well, We burn Mike’s room, anyway. And they hey presto! Revolution! ibid.
Neil: What happened to the Revolution? You’d think Devil Woman had never been written! ibid.
Jazz is the Big Brother of revolution. Revolution follows it around. Miles Davis
We shall Strike. We shall pursue the revolution we have proposed. We are sons of the Mexican Revolution, a revolution of the poor seeking, bread and justice. Our revolution will not be armed, but we want the existing social order to dissolve, we want a new social order. We are poor, we are humble, and our only choices is to Strike in those ranchers where we are not treated with the respect we deserve as working men, where our rights as free and sovereign men are not recognized. We do not want the paternalism of the rancher; we do not want the contractor; we do not want charity at the price of our dignity. We want to be equal with all the working men in the nation; we want just wage, better working conditions, a decent future for our children. To those who oppose us, be they ranchers, police, politicians, or speculators, we say that we are going to continue fighting until we die, or we win. We shall overcome. Cesar Chavez, The Plan of Delano, 1965
Here in America we are descended in blood and in spirit from revolutionists and rebels – men and women who dare to dissent from accepted doctrine. As their heirs, may we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion. Dwight D Eisenhower
Mere sparks can ignite a popular movement that may seem dormant. Noam Chomsky
Revolution today is taken for granted, and in consequence becomes rather dull. Percy Wyndham Lewis
Let’s start a revolution. Let’s get out of here. Let’s do something. Tupac Shakur
Above all, try always to be able to feel deeply any injustice committed against any person in any part of the world. It is the most beautiful quality of a revolutionary. Che Guevara, Last Letter from Papa, to children written @1965, to be read in event of death
The Revolution is made by man, but man must forge his revolutionary spirit from day to day. Che Guevara
I knew that the moment the great governing spirit strikes the blow to divide all humanity into just two opposing factions, I would be on the side of the common people. Che Guevara
Real revolutionaries adorn themselves on the inside, not on the surface. Che Guevara
The merit of Marx is that he suddenly produces a qualitative change in the history of social thought. He interprets history, understands its dynamic, predicts the future, but in addition to predicting it (which would satisfy his scientific obligation), he expresses a revolutionary concept: the world must not only be interpreted, it must be transformed. Man ceases to be the slave and tool of his environment and converts himself into the architect of his own destiny. Che Guevara
We, practical revolutionaries, initiating our own struggle, simply fulfil laws foreseen by Marx, the scientist. Che Guevara
We have to remind ourselves of this at every moment: that we are in a war, a cold war as they call it; a war where there is no front line, no continuous bombardment, but where the two adversaries – this tiny champion of the Caribbean and the immense imperialist hyena – are face to face and aware that one of them is going to end up dead in the fight. Che Guevara, March 1961
The victory of the Cuban Revolution will be a tangible demonstration before all the Americas that peoples are capable of rising up, that they can rise up by themselves right under the very fangs of the monster. ibid.
The people are weary of being oppressed, persecuted, exploited to the maximum. They are weary of the wretched selling of their labour-power day after day – faced with the fear of joining the enormous mass of unemployed – so that the greatest profit can be wrung from each human body, profit later squandered in the orgies of the masters of capital. Che Guevara
As Marxists we have maintained that peaceful coexistence among nations does not encompass coexistence between the exploiters and the exploited, between the oppressors and the oppressed. Che Guevara
In our zeal as revolutionists we try to move ahead as fast as possible, clearing the way, but knowing we must draw our sustenance from the mass and that it can advance more rapidly only if we inspire it by our example. Che Guevara
The true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality. Che Guevara
The ultimate and most important revolutionary aspiration: to see human beings liberated from their alienation. Che Guevara
Grow up as good revolutionaries. Che Guevara
Many of them, so as to curry favour with tyrants, for a fistful of coins, or through bribery or corruption, are shedding the blood of their brothers. Emiliano Zapata