Leon Trotsky Quotes

The task is to transform society; only the people can do that - not heroes, not celebrities, not stars.

The people themselves must think, because the people alone can act.

The elites hate to acknowledge it, but when large numbers of ordinary people are moved to action, it changes the narrow political world where the elites call the shots. Inside accounts reveal the extent to which Johnson and Nixon's conduct of the Vietnam War was constrained by the huge anti-war movement. It was the civil rights movement, not compelling arguments, that convinced members of Congress to end legal racial discrimination.

The power of the masses can influence any government in the world. The power of the masses can elect an official, start a revolution, and drive history. Nelson Mandela did it alone from his prison cell. Ghandi did it lying down. Egypt did it singing songs.

Most new movements start this way: hundreds or thousands of individuals and groups, working in different fields and different locations, start thinking about change using a common language, without necessarily recognizing those shared values. You just start following your own vector, propelled along by people in your immediate vicinity. And then one day, you look up and realize that all those individual trajectories have turned into a wave.

The people, and the people alone, are the motive force in the making of world history.

Organizations don’t make revolutions. People do.

Only the people can build world history.

Americans have a tendency to exalt the concept of a popular uprising.

When ordinary people come together, they can upset the mighty.

There is no sound more powerful than the marching feet of a determined people.

I laid my hand on top of theirs, and all I could think was, Is this how revolutions begin? Not with a proclamation or a riot, but with a few people in a room somewhere with their hands clasped and a purpose.

There were moments where people took the to streets and small rebellions, but ultimately it's a change in consciousness - so how do you capture that and bring the piece to light?

It's the people who are doing the nonviolent organizing at the grassroots that make me think there's still hope.

Revolutionary tactics cannot be invented by leaders; they must develop spontaneously-history comes first, leaders' consciousness second.

When ordinary people wake up, elites begin to tremble in their boots.

Movements of people create change - not just any one person or organization, but when lots of people are in motion around a shared vision.

I think we're at a time where people just want to join together and cause change. People don't want to live like this any more.

I think people look at revolution too much in terms of power. I think revolution has to be seen more anthropologically, in terms of transitions from one mode of life to another.

The movers and shakers on our planet, aren't the billionaires and generals, they are the incredible numbers of people around the world filled with love for neighbor and for the earth who are resisting, remaking, restoring, renewing and revitalising.

The power of the people is much stronger than the people in power.

If people want change, then they will find a way to get that change. So, whatever technology they may or may not have used was neither a necessary nor sufficient case for getting to the outcome that they got to, but having people who wanted change was.

People power. It has no limits.

The point is change can come about, but it only comes about when millions of people are actively involved in political struggle, the billionaires may have the money, but we have the people.

Most of the time we do nothing, myself included, I think the lesson I learned from [playing humanitarian Tessa in The Constant Gardner] is that a lot of drops make up an ocean. If people would stand up and say what they believe in maybe we can make a difference. Helping one person is better than nothing. Just do something.