"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."
"Bombard the Headquarters."
"God forbid we should ever be 20 years without such a rebellion...What signify a few lives lost in a century or two? The tree of liberty must from time to time be refreshed with the blood of patriots and tyrants."
"I considered [the French Jacobins] as the same with the Republican patriots..."
"It was necessary to use the arm of the people, a machine not quite so blind as balls and bombs, but blind to a certain degree. A few of their cordial friends met at their hands, the fate of enemies."
"...[R]ather than [the French Revolution] should have failed, I would have seen half the earth desolated. Were there but an Adam and an Eve left in every country, and left free, it would be better than as it now is."
"I considered [the French Jacobins] as the same with the Republican patriots..."
"It was necessary to use the arm of the people, a machine not quite so blind as balls and bombs, but blind to a certain degree. A few of their cordial friends met at their hands, the fate of enemies."
"...[R]ather than [the French Revolution] should have failed, I would have seen half the earth desolated. Were there but an Adam and an Eve left in every country, and left free, it would be better than as it now is."
"Revolution is no crime, to rebel is justified."
“In the worst case [of general nuclear war], half the people would die, but the other half would survive, and … imperialism would be wiped off the face of the earth, and the whole world would become socialist,”
“In the worst case [of general nuclear war], half the people would die, but the other half would survive, and … imperialism would be wiped off the face of the earth, and the whole world would become socialist,”
"Beijing is too civilized! I would say there is not a great deal of disorder ... To the unfolding of nationwide all-round civil war!"
“I’m not afraid of nuclear war. There are 2.7 billion people in the world; it doesn’t matter if some are killed. China has a population of 600 million; even if half of them are killed, there are still 300 million people left.”
First five quotes, Thomas Jefferson; last five, Mao Zedong.
