--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: As people get more desperate, history…" description: "\"As people get more desperate, history suggests that they're not going to rise in a mighty proletarian tidal wave and wash away their oppressors. They'r..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc2/alan-moore-583_desperate_as-people-get-more-desperate-history-sug_971046.jpg" --- # As people get more desperate, history suggests that… ![“As people get more desperate, history suggests that they're not going to rise in a mighty proletarian tidal wave and wash away their oppressors. They're gonna turn on each other.” quote by Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc2/alan-moore-583_desperate_as-people-get-more-desperate-history-sug_971046.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc2/alan-moore-583_desperate_as-people-get-more-desperate-history-sug_971046.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/cc2/alan-moore-583_desperate_as-people-get-more-desperate-history-sug_971046.jpg) > “As people get more desperate, history suggests that they're not going to rise in a mighty proletarian tidal wave and wash away their oppressors. They're gonna turn on each other.” [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Desperation often leads to internal conflict rather than collective uprising, undermining revolutionary potential. **In simple terms:** Desperation causes infighting, not unity. Key Takeaway Beware of division in crisis. Themes politics history revolution conflict human nature Mood cautious analytical Type critical philosophical When to use this quote - political movements - labor unions - community organizing - social activism Key Concepts social dynamics power structures collective action Questions to Reflect On - Can unity be fostered in desperation? - What safeguards prevent infighting? A Different Perspective Idealistic revolutions may overlook practical human tendencies. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Desperate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desperate/) [Desperate History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desperate-history-1864003/) [History](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/history/) [More](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/more/) [Oppressors Gonna](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/oppressors-gonna-1864004/) [People](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people/) [People Desperate](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/people-desperate-863195/) [Proletarian Tidal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/proletarian-tidal-1864005/) [Rise](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rise/) [Turn on](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/turn-on/) [Turns](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/turns/) [Wave](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wave/) ## Related quotes > [Solutions-oriented campaigning with a little passion and a little humor; I think that will go a long way. I think people are desperate for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laura-ingraham/solutions-oriented-campaigning-with-a-little-passion-and-a-little/) [Laura Ingraham](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laura-ingraham/) > [Middle-class people are becoming desperate. It can cause a moral man to break bad.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/giancarlo-esposito/middle-class-people-are-becoming-desperate-it-can-cause-a-moral-man/) [Giancarlo Esposito](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/giancarlo-esposito/) > [I've always said that people are desperate to find meaning in their lives.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rush-limbaugh/i-ve-always-said-that-people-are-desperate-to-find-meaning-in-their/) [Rush Limbaugh](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rush-limbaugh/) > [People have become desperate to reduce everything, including each other, to mindless categories of good and bad, as if the world can be divided…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/victoria-coren-mitchell/people-have-become-desperate-to-reduce-everything-including-each/) [Victoria Coren Mitchell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/victoria-coren-mitchell/) > [There are always people who are desperate to put you in your one camp and never let you leave. The idea that you could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stacey-dooley/there-are-always-people-who-are-desperate-to-put-you-in-your-one-camp/) [Stacey Dooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stacey-dooley/) > [“It was a strategy as old as time. Make people desperate enough and they obeyed.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/debra-webb/it-was-a-strategy-as-old-as-time-make-people-desperate-enough-and/) [Debra Webb](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/debra-webb/) > [I was never one of those people who was desperate to be famous.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-essex/i-was-never-one-of-those-people-who-was-desperate-to-be-famous/) [David Essex](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-essex/) > [Young people realize that something is amiss. There's a generation that fell in love with their phones, and it's very hard for them to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/judy-woodruff/young-people-realize-that-something-is-amiss-there-s-a-generation/) [Judy Woodruff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/judy-woodruff/) > [In tough economic times, desperate people do desperate things, and the abortion rate goes up.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jesse-jackson/in-tough-economic-times-desperate-people-do-desperate-things-and-the/) [Jesse Jackson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jesse-jackson/) > [The unemployment rate is now at 9.2%, which is scary, because experts say 9.5 is the point at which people are desperate enough to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-maher/the-unemployment-rate-is-now-at-9-2-which-is-scary-because-experts/) [Bill Maher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-maher/) > [“Some people, when desperate, retreat to pills or hard liquor. I nap.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/brock-clarke/some-people-when-desperate-retreat-to-pills-or-hard-liquor-i-nap/) [Brock Clarke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/brock-clarke/) > [I'm not one of those people desperate to get in the ring again.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-regal/i-m-not-one-of-those-people-desperate-to-get-in-the-ring-again/) [William Regal](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-regal/) > [“Desperate people do desperate things, and people with nothing left to lose are the most dangerous of them all.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bella-forrest/desperate-people-do-desperate-things-and-people-with-nothing-left-to/) [Bella Forrest](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bella-forrest/) > [At the end of day, people are starving and, if people are starving and thirsty and they need to keep their families alive, people…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eric-kripke/at-the-end-of-day-people-are-starving-and-if-people-are-starving-and/) [Eric Kripke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eric-kripke/) > [Lol people are so desperate sometime they crying hopeless all you want is just live your own life normally and don't get distracted by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/lol-people-are-so-desperate-sometime-they-crying-hopeless-all-you/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) ## More by Alan Moore > [I think that storytelling and creation are very close to what the center of what magic is about. I think not just for me,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/i-think-that-storytelling-and-creation-are-very-close-to-what-the/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [To some degree Satanism is purely a kind of disease of Christianity. You've got to really be Christian to believe in Satan.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/to-some-degree-satanism-is-purely-a-kind-of-disease-of-christianity/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [There has been a rather unpleasant sensibility apparent in Frank Miller's work for quite a long time.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/there-has-been-a-rather-unpleasant-sensibility-apparent-in-frank/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [I felt, if I'm going to react I might as well over react.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/i-felt-if-i-m-going-to-react-i-might-as-well-over-react/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [“Come, dry your eyes, for you are LIFE, rarer than a quark and unpredictable beyond the dreams of Heisenberg; the clay in which the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/come-dry-your-eyes-for-you-are-life-rarer-than-a-quark-and/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [Now everything is wonderful and hazardous and nothing's hypothetical.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/now-everything-is-wonderful-and-hazardous-and-nothing-s-hypothetical/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [If you look at that incredible burst of fantastic characters that emerged in the late 19th century/early 20th century, you can see so many…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/if-you-look-at-that-incredible-burst-of-fantastic-characters-that/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [In many ways, my entire graphic novel career was a long diversion. Originally, all I wanted to do was to be an underground cartoonist…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/in-many-ways-my-entire-graphic-novel-career-was-a-long-diversion/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [I was kind of a selfish child, who always wanted things his way, and I've kind of taken that over into my relationship with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/i-was-kind-of-a-selfish-child-who-always-wanted-things-his-way-and-i/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [Magic is a state of mind. It is often portrayed as very black and gothic, and that is because certain practitioners played that up…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/magic-is-a-state-of-mind-it-is-often-portrayed-as-very-black-and/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [“Above, great constellations wheeled to which our bonfire sparks ascended in their tiny mimicry”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/above-great-constellations-wheeled-to-which-our-bonfire-sparks/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [“You're my only remaining link to the world”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/you-re-my-only-remaining-link-to-the-world/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [Nothing ends, Adrian. Nothing ever ends.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/nothing-ends-adrian-nothing-ever-ends/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [On the one occasion where I did try writing a screenplay, I found the rewriting just unendurable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/on-the-one-occasion-where-i-did-try-writing-a-screenplay-i-found-the/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [“The clothes you're wearing, the room, the house, the city that you're in. Everything in it started out in the human imagination. Your lives,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/the-clothes-you-re-wearing-the-room-the-house-the-city-that-you-re-in/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) [Explore all 460 Alan Moore quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) ## More Desperate quotes > [Marriage is a desperate thing.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-selden/marriage-is-a-desperate-thing/) [John Selden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-selden/) > [“I was ambitious and desperate to direct my first film, so I capitulated and blew it. Never again. Never fucking again.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/craig-ferguson/i-was-ambitious-and-desperate-to-direct-my-first-film-so-i/) [Craig Ferguson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/craig-ferguson/) > [“I am a desperate romantic. I love the idea of random collisions of the heart.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jessica-thompson/i-am-a-desperate-romantic-i-love-the-idea-of-random-collisions-of-the/) [Jessica Thompson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jessica-thompson/) > [Worship isn't destructive, Martin. I know that. I don't. I only know it's the core of his life. What else has he got? He…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-shaffer/worship-isn-t-destructive-martin-i-know-that-i-don-t-i-only-know-it-s/) [Peter Shaffer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-shaffer/) > [“Really? I'm trying to place you. It seems like we've met before." Did I just issue him a pick up line? Fantastic, I've now…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jamie-mcguire/really-i-m-trying-to-place-you-it-seems-like-we-ve-met-before-did-i/) [Jamie McGuire](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jamie-mcguire/) > [Never be desperate. Get rid of your insecurities. Know your worth. Believe in yourself and go get what you want.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/never-be-desperate-get-rid-of-your-insecurities-know-your-worth/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“She was stupid and lonely. So desperate to be touched and loved with a good love. I need you, don't leave me, you're all…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lucian-bane/she-was-stupid-and-lonely-so-desperate-to-be-touched-and-loved-with-a/) [Lucian Bane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lucian-bane/) > [You mostly know that you want to be funny, know that you have the desire. It's not like people who grow up beautiful and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tina-fey/you-mostly-know-that-you-want-to-be-funny-know-that-you-have-the/) [Tina Fey](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tina-fey/) > [I had to smile when stories emerged questioning whether I was gay. Obviously I knew I wasn't but people were curiously desperate to suggest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/daniel-radcliffe/i-had-to-smile-when-stories-emerged-questioning-whether-i-was-gay/) [Daniel Radcliffe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/daniel-radcliffe/) > [The World Health Organisation has a lot of its medical experts sitting in Geneva while hospitals in Africa have no drugs and desperate patients…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pauline-hanson/the-world-health-organisation-has-a-lot-of-its-medical-experts/) [Pauline Hanson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pauline-hanson/) > [There, in the center of that silence was not eternity but the death of time and a loneliness so profound the word itself had…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/there-in-the-center-of-that-silence-was-not-eternity-but-the-death-of/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [I know it's a film and all of that, and it's a Hollywood film, but it kind of feels like this sometimes, when you're…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-marber/i-know-it-s-a-film-and-all-of-that-and-it-s-a-hollywood-film-but-it/) [Patrick Marber](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-marber/) > [“you think I"m that desperate?" "The raging hard-on jabbing at me says yes." ~Creed/Annika”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sydney-croft/you-think-i-m-that-desperate-the-raging-hard-on-jabbing-at-me-says/) [Sydney Croft](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sydney-croft/) > [Along with a livable wage, many parents are desperate for quality affordable child care.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/kirsten-gillibrand/along-with-a-livable-wage-many-parents-are-desperate-for-quality/) [Kirsten Gillibrand](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/kirsten-gillibrand/) > [As a player, if a club is desperate to sign you, then you can benefit from that. Desperate clubs are prepared to pay more…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diego-forlan/as-a-player-if-a-club-is-desperate-to-sign-you-then-you-can-benefit/) [Diego Forlan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diego-forlan/) [Browse all 1,618 Desperate quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/desperate/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "As people get more desperate, history suggests that they're not going to rise in a mighty proletarian tidal wave and wash away their oppressors. 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