I believe that one must take all that can be taken, whether much or little: do whatever is possible today, while always fighting to make possible what today seems impossible.
Our task then is to make, and to help others make, the revolution by taking advantage of every opportunity and all available forces: advancing the revolution as much as possible in its constructive as well as destructive role, and always remaining opposed to the formation of any government, either ignoring it or combating it to the limits of our capacities.
...a mass of people plagued by urgent needs and driven by aspirations - at times passionate but always vague and indeterminate - to a better life, and on the other individuals and parties who have a specific view of the future and of the means to attain it...
But ideas are imperishable and there are green shoots sprouting amid the debris of the past. Even in the midst of death there is life. (From: Section 4: An Entire Column, Page 7..)
An army of principles will penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot; it will succeed where diplomatic management would fall: it is neither the Rhine, the Channel, nor the ocean that can arrest its progress: it will march on the horizon of the world, and it will conquer.
...a political spark was essential -- misery combined with a felt hope of improvement would end resignation. (From: Chapter 2: Condition of a Society: 1847, Page 90..)
I think that simply staying alive, holding to one's individuality and keeping one's spirits -- and head -- high is in itself a form of rebellion in the context of an institution that is deliberately built to put people down and humiliate them. (From: Section 2: Interview, Page 12..)
If the peasant rebels partake of tragedy, they also partake of hope, and to that extent theirs is the party of humanity. Arrayed against them, however, are now not merely the defenders of ancient privileges, but the Holy Alliance of those who -- with superior technology and superior organization -- would bury that hope under an avalanche of power. These new engineers of power call themselves realists, but it is a hallmark of their realism that it admits no evidence and interpretation other than that which serves their purposes. The peasantry confronts tragedy, but hope is on its side; doubly tragic are their adversaries who would deny that hope to both peasantry and to themselves. This also is America's dilemma in the world today: to act in... (From: Chapter 7: Conclusion, Page 302..)
