Quotes About Change

There is one thing stronger than all the armies in the world, and that is an idea whose time has come.

The counterfeits of the past assume false names, and gladly call themselves the future.

Stronger than all the armies is an idea whose time has come.

Tutte le cose della vita sono perennemente in fuga davanti a noi: ombre e luci s'intrecciano; dopo uno sfolgorìo, ecco una ecclisse; si guarda, ci si affretta, si stendon le mani per afferrare quello che passa; ogni evento è una svolta della strada; e all'improvviso, eccoci vecchi.

There can be no vacuum in the human heart. Certain demolitions take place, and it is right they should, on condition that they are followed by reconstructions.

architecture is dead, with no ghost to return, killed by the printed book because it did not last as long and cost more.

Toutes les conquêtes sublimes sont plus ou moins des prix de hardiesse. Pour que la révolution soit, il ne suffit pas que Montesquieu la pressente, que Diderot la prêche, que Beaumarchais l'annonce, que Condorcet la calcule, qu'Arouet la prépare, que Rousseau la prémédite ; il faut que Danton l'ose.

It is the features of the years that makes up the face of the century.

Ricordatevi, signore: la rivoluzione francese ha avuto le sue ragioni. [...] Sì, le brutalità del progresso si chiamano rivoluzioni. Quando sono finite, si riconosce questo: che il genere umano è stato maltrattato, ma ha camminato.

of all scaffolds, the political one is the most abominable, the most fatal, the most mischievous, the most necessary to extirpate.

Cuando se acordaba de sus opiniones anteriores, que eran sólo de ayer y que, no obstante, le parecían ya tan antiguas, se indignaba y sonreía.

The prison makes the convict.

In the early ages, the social edifice rested on three columns, the priest, the king and the headsman. It is a long time since a voice exclaimed, "The gods have departed!" Lately another voice has cried, "The kings have departed!" It is now full time that a third voice shall be raised to say, "The executioner must go!

We shall look on crime as a disease, and its physicians shall displace the judges, its hospitals displace the galleys. Liberty and health shall be alike. We shall pour balm and oil where we formerly applied iron and fire; evil will be treated in charity, instead of in anger. This change will be simple and sublime.

As revoluções nascem, não de um acidente, mas da necessidade. Ela existe porque é preciso que ela exista.

O progresso é a vida permanente dos povos.

Breaking the gloomy bonds of the past is a mournful task.

You can't stop an idea whose time has come.

On emerging from that black and deformed thing which is called the galleys, the Bishop had hurt his soul, as too vivid a light would have hurt his eyes on emerging from the dark. The future life, the possible life which offered itself to him henceforth, all pure and radiant, filled him with tremors and anxiety.

Monsieur, retorted Gavroche, perhaps you were a man of wit yesterday, but you have degenerated this morning.

CHAPTER IX—NEW TROUBLES

In tempo di rivoluzione, fate attenzione alla prima testa che cade. Essa fa venire l'appetito al popolo.

Il passaggio da bovaro a carmelitano non ha nulla di stridente: si passa dall'uno all'altro senza gran fatica. Il fondo comune d'ignoranza del villaggio e del convento è una base che mette il contadino allo stesso livello del frate; tenete un po' più grande il gabbano, ed avrete un saio.

It is the lineaments of the years which form the countenance of the century.