Roy Jenkins Quotes

That is why I came to conclusion that the election must take place, so that the republic can have a government. If I were to say that everything will change for the better immediately, that would not be true. The struggle will continue for a long time.

What creates freedom? A revolution in the streets? Mass protest? Civil war? A change of government? The ousting of the old guard and its replacement by the new? History, more often than not, shows that hopes raised by such events are often dashed, sooner rather than later.

The word Revolution, which we Socialists are so often forced to use, has a terrible sound in most people's ears, even when we have explained to them that it does not necessarily mean a change accompanied by riot and all kinds of violence

We are making our revolution slowly and by constitutional methods.

If revolution insists upon overturning established order, let other peoples make the tragic experiment. There is no place for it in America.

All modern revolutions have ended in a reinforcement of the power of the State

We need to keep this Labour government, it has a good chance of another term.

You can have a revolution wherever you like, except in a government office; even were the world to come to an end, you'd have to destroy the universe first and then government offices.

Revolutions demand enormous sacrifices and, at the same time, create a new need to change the world again.

I feel like giving myself a pat on the back. We can create history tonight. We can bid goodbye to 10 years of (Liberal-Conservative) government which has ground to a halt, and get a new government and a new majority in Denmark.

Just like in medicine, when the normal medicine no longer works, one resorts to surgery. And the revolutions is like the surgery: It's painful, and it's the last resort for nations.

It may be impossible to have a revolution without crimes but that does not make revolution a crime.

Usually, in any revolution people are focused on who wants to have the most power. But the most important thing is the laws that are written during that time.

We did not have a revolution in order to have a democracy.

Make the revolution a parent of settlement, and not a nursery of future revolutions.

Revolution is not a dinner party, not an essay, nor a painting, nor a piece of embroidery; it cannot be advanced softly, gradually, carefully, considerately, respectfully, politely, plainly and modestly.

Without destruction of the State, there is no revolution.

Anarchists know that a long period of education must precede any great fundamental change in society, hence they do not believe in vote begging, nor political campaigns, but rather in the development of self-thinking individuals.

The Constitution will be reformed in accordance with our revolution.

Grasp Revolution

Revolution is a trivial shift in the emphasis of suffering.

I think that in order to make revolution, you need to make reforms, but you should make these reforms with revolution in mind.

We will pave the way for a transformation and roll back the years of Thatcherism...We will turn economic ruin into economic recovery, and above all pave the way for a General Election to elect a Labour Government.

The labour party is like a stage-coach. If you rattle along at great speed everybody inside is too exhilarated or too seasick to cause any trouble. But if you stop everybody gets out and argues about where to go next.

If democracy succeeds in Egypt, other countries will follow. Should the democratic experiment in Egypt be hijacked by the military or anti-democratic Islamist groups, the revolution will fail elsewhere.