--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Revolutionaries do not make revolutions!…" description: "\"“Revolutionaries do not make revolutions! The revolutionaries are those who know when power is lying in the street and when they can pick it up. Armed ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/037/hannah-arendt-610_revolution_revolutionaries-do-not-make-revolutions_2253211.jpg" --- # Revolutionaries do not make revolutions! The… ![“Revolutionaries do not make revolutions! The revolutionaries are those who know when power is lying in the street and when they can pick it up. Armed uprising by itself has never yet led to revolution.” quote by Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/037/hannah-arendt-610_revolution_revolutionaries-do-not-make-revolutions_2253211.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/037/hannah-arendt-610_revolution_revolutionaries-do-not-make-revolutions_2253211.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/037/hannah-arendt-610_revolution_revolutionaries-do-not-make-revolutions_2253211.jpg) > ““Revolutionaries do not make revolutions! The revolutionaries are those who know when power is lying in the street and when they can pick it up. Armed uprising by itself has never yet led to revolution.”” [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Revolutions require awareness of power dynamics, not just armed uprising. **In simple terms:** Know when to act. Key Takeaway Act with strategic insight. Themes revolution power strategy Mood critical analytical Type philosophical political When to use this quote - activist planning - community organizing - policy reform - education seminars Key Concepts political theory social movements Questions to Reflect On - When is violent action justified? - How can non‑violent tactics achieve change? A Different Perspective Armed revolt alone rarely succeeds without mass support. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Revolution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/revolution/) [Revolutionaries](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/revolutionaries/) [Revolutions](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/revolutions/) ## Related quotes > [Revolutionaries do not make revolutions. The revolutionaries are those who know when power is lying in the street and then they can pick it…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/revolutionaries-do-not-make-revolutions-the-revolutionaries-are-those-2/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“And Leites and Wolf were wrong. “It has been said that most revolutions are not caused by revolutionaries in the first place, but by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-gladwell/and-leites-and-wolf-were-wrong-it-has-been-said-that-most-revolutions/) [Malcolm Gladwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-gladwell/) > [“It has been said that most revolutions are not caused by revolutionaries in the first place, but by the stupidity and brutality of governments,”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/malcolm-gladwell/it-has-been-said-that-most-revolutions-are-not-caused-by/) [Malcolm Gladwell](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/malcolm-gladwell/) > [“Revolutionists who took part in uprisings in one part of the globe would often migrate to take part in uprisings in another. Francisco de…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-hedges/revolutionists-who-took-part-in-uprisings-in-one-part-of-the-globe/) [Chris Hedges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-hedges/) > [Moral revolutions are typically seen retrospectively. Prospectively, the revolutionaries tend to look like crazy people, and sometimes they are.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dale-jamieson/moral-revolutions-are-typically-seen-retrospectively-prospectively/) [Dale Jamieson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dale-jamieson/) > [“Revolutionaries can't afford to worry about tomorrow.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/diana-palmer/revolutionaries-can-t-afford-to-worry-about-tomorrow/) [Diana Palmer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/diana-palmer/) > [Revolutions are the only political events which confront us directly and inevitably with the problem of beginning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/revolutions-are-the-only-political-events-which-confront-us-directly/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Some socialist movements in Egypt, Tunisia and Bahrain, for instance, were genuine. I was making films about the so-called Arab Spring, and I'm well…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andre-vltchek/some-socialist-movements-in-egypt-tunisia-and-bahrain-for-instance/) [Andre Vltchek](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andre-vltchek/) > [“Imagine a world where people were 10% happier and less reactive. Marriage, parenting, road rage, politics - all would be improved upon. Public health…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dan-harris/imagine-a-world-where-people-were-10-happier-and-less-reactive/) [Dan Harris](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dan-harris/) > [There were two, three or four French Revolutions. Like a multi-stage rocket today, the Revolution involved several successive explosions and propellant thrusts.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/fernand-braudel/there-were-two-three-or-four-french-revolutions-like-a-multi-stage/) [Fernand Braudel](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/fernand-braudel/) > [The danger to which the success of revolutions is most exposed, is that of attempting them before the principles on which they proceed, and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/thomas-paine/the-danger-to-which-the-success-of-revolutions-is-most-exposed-is/) [Thomas Paine](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/thomas-paine/) > [Conservatism is the worship of dead revolutions.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clinton-rossiter/conservatism-is-the-worship-of-dead-revolutions/) [Clinton Rossiter](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clinton-rossiter/) > [The revolutions of thought which shape the basic outlook of an age are not disseminated through text-books- they spread like epidemics, through contamination by…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arthur-koestler/the-revolutions-of-thought-which-shape-the-basic-outlook-of-an-age/) [Arthur Koestler](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arthur-koestler/) > [Music used to cause revolutions and I'm not seeing much revolution anymore.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chuck-d/music-used-to-cause-revolutions-and-i-m-not-seeing-much-revolution/) [Chuck D](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chuck-d/) > [History respects revolutions; and yet, if a revolution is progressive, support it; if it is reactionary, resist it!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mehmet-murat-ildan/history-respects-revolutions-and-yet-if-a-revolution-is-progressive/) [Mehmet Murat Ildan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mehmet-murat-ildan/) ## More by Hannah Arendt > [“It means, first, that everything that appears in public can be seen and heard by everybody and has the widest possible publicity. For us,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/it-means-first-that-everything-that-appears-in-public-can-be-seen-and/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Without being forgiven, released from the consequences of what we have done, our capacity to act would, as it were, be confined to one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/without-being-forgiven-released-from-the-consequences-of-what-we-have/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [What really distinguishes this generation in all countries from earlier generations ... is its determination to act, its joy in action, the assurance of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/what-really-distinguishes-this-generation-in-all-countries-from/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [The practice of violence, like all action, changes the world, but the most probable change is a more violent world.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/the-practice-of-violence-like-all-action-changes-the-world-but-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“Nationalism always preserved this initial intimate loyalty to the government and never quite lost its function of preserving a precarious balance between nation and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/nationalism-always-preserved-this-initial-intimate-loyalty-to-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [There is all the difference in the world between the criminal's avoiding the public eye and the civil disobedience's taking the law into his…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/there-is-all-the-difference-in-the-world-between-the-criminal-s/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“What imperialists actually wanted was expansion of political power without the foundation of the body politic. Imperialist expansion had been touched off by a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/what-imperialists-actually-wanted-was-expansion-of-political-power/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [the greater the bureaucratization of public life, the greater will be the attraction of violence. In a fully developed bureaucracy there is nobody left…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/the-greater-the-bureaucratization-of-public-life-the-greater-will-be/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Forgiveness is the key to action and freedom.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/forgiveness-is-the-key-to-action-and-freedom/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Death not merely ends life, it also bestows upon it a silent completeness, snatched from the hazardous flux to which all things human are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/death-not-merely-ends-life-it-also-bestows-upon-it-a-silent/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Only crime and the criminal, it is true, confront us with the perplexity of radical evil; but only the hypocrite is really rotten to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/only-crime-and-the-criminal-it-is-true-confront-us-with-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [We have almost succeeded in leveling all human activities to the common denominator of securing the necessities of life and providing for their abundance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/we-have-almost-succeeded-in-leveling-all-human-activities-to-the/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“Totalitarian politics—far from being simply antisemitic or racist or imperialist or communist—use and abuse their own ideological and political elements until the basis of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/totalitarian-politics-far-from-being-simply-antisemitic-or-racist-or/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [“It is like the distinction between war and peace: just as war takes place for the sake of peace, thus every kind of activity,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/it-is-like-the-distinction-between-war-and-peace-just-as-war-takes/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) > [Every end in history necessarily contains a new beginning.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hannah-arendt/every-end-in-history-necessarily-contains-a-new-beginning/) [Hannah Arendt](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) [Explore all 405 Hannah Arendt quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hannah-arendt/) ## More Revolution quotes > [The image of blacks usually is one of people who are suffering from hunger, unemployment, and poverty. 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W. Brands](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/h-w-brands/) > [I'm not in the business of bayoneting the wounded. I feel the blockchain revolution is kind of my victory. I don't care whether I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/patrick-m-byrne/i-m-not-in-the-business-of-bayoneting-the-wounded-i-feel-the/) [Patrick M. Byrne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/patrick-m-byrne/) > [Oppression that is clearly inexorable and invincible does not give rise to revolt but to submission.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/simone-weil/oppression-that-is-clearly-inexorable-and-invincible-does-not-give/) [Simone Weil](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/simone-weil/) > [“Patriotism is a fierce love for the nation’s soul - its land, its people, its core, coupled with a burning contempt for a government…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/njau-kihia/patriotism-is-a-fierce-love-for-the-nation-s-soul-its-land-its-people/) Njau Kihia > [“As morally troubling and politically charged as the issue of inequality has become, it's not likely to cause a populist revolt. Most Americans still…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-frank/as-morally-troubling-and-politically-charged-as-the-issue-of/) [Robert Frank](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-frank/) > [Most of us have two lives. The life we live, and the unlived life within us. Between the two stands Resistance.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/steven-pressfield/most-of-us-have-two-lives-the-life-we-live-and-the-unlived-life/) [Steven Pressfield](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/steven-pressfield/) > [The plight of the Baha'i community in Iran has served as a backdrop to my life growing up in London, particularly since the Islamic…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/omid-djalili/the-plight-of-the-baha-i-community-in-iran-has-served-as-a-backdrop/) [Omid Djalili](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/omid-djalili/) > [I was born in Cuba. At the age of 14 years of age I was involved in a revolution. We were suffering from a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ted-cruz/i-was-born-in-cuba-at-the-age-of-14-years-of-age-i-was-involved-in-a/) [Ted Cruz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ted-cruz/) > [The religion of art, like the religion of politics, was born from the ruins of Christianity. 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