Rollo May Quotes

Apostles of Freedom are ever idolized when dead, but crucified when living.

… all change in history, all advance, comes from the nonconformists. If there had been no trouble-makers, no Dissenters, we should still be living in caves.

The people who have really made history are the martyrs.

We prefer death, martyrdom, and the graveyards of martyrs than to enjoy the guarantees and protection of America

Martyrdom does not end something. It is only the beginning.

History pays more attention to reformers than others. We pay more attention to dissenters too.

Ideas ripen quickly when nourished by the blood of martyrs.

The generation which commences a revolution can rarely complete it

All the heroes of tomorrow are the heretics of today.

A revolution is a struggle to the death between the future and the past.

History is full of people who went to prison or were burned at the stake for proclaiming their ideas. Society has always defended itself.

If Egypt were going to change, it is going to change through the young people.

In my parents' generation, rebellion was pop culture. It's not anymore.

When one makes a Revolution, one cannot mark time; one must always go forward - or go back. He who now talks about the 'freedom of the press' goes backward, and halts our headlong course towards Socialism.

There never was a social change in America without angry people at the heart.

Youth is so exciting. It'll take over. I don't want to be swept away. I want to be with the taking-over people, right to the end.

An enthusiast broods over the oppression of a people till he fancies himself commissioned by Heaven to liberate them. He ventures the attempt, which ends in little else than his own execution.

Blood alone moves the wheels of history.

Revolutions are the locomotives of history.

Don't accept the old order. Get rid of it.

We're on the cusp, on the brink, of enormous change in this country.

Sometimes - history needs a push.

Not long ago, a hat was a conformist accessory. Then the 1960s came along, and young people didn't want to wear hats.

I see history as really cyclical in terms of the intense idealism, and the desire to create a better life outside of societal norms.

When there is a huge force pressing down on freedoms, sub-cultures with more creativity and power are likely to form.