“The more you make revolutions, the worse it gets.”
The Paris Review interview (1984)
Context: The French Revolution liberated people from the power of the aristocrats. But the bourgeoisie that took over represented the exploitation of man by man, and had to be destroyed—as in the Russian Revolution, which then degenerated into totalitarianism, Stalinism, and genocide. The more you make revolutions, the worse it gets. Man is driven by evil instincts that are often stronger than moral laws … there is a higher order, but man can separate himself from it because he is free — which is what we have done. We have lost the sense of this higher order, and things will get worse and worse, culminating perhaps in a nuclear holocaust — the destruction predicted in the Apocalyptic texts. Only our apocalypse will be absurd and ridiculous because it will not be related to any transcendence. Modern man is a puppet, a jumping jack.
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Eugéne Ionesco 59
Romanian playwright 1909–1994Related quotes
Listen, Marxist!
Source: Hainish Cycle, (1974), Chapter 9 (p. 301)
Source: Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting
“Half a revolution is not better than none… It may, in fact, be worse.”
Source: Reengineering management, 1995, p. 3
“Don't make it worse by thinking it's more painful than it actually is.”
Source: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas
“You say you want a Revolution; you better get it on right away.”
"Power to the People"
Lyrics
“You cannot make a revolution with silk gloves.”
"omlets are not made without breaking eggs" first appeared in English in 1796. It is from the French, "on ne saurait faire d'omelette sans casser des œufs" (1742 and earlier), attributed to François de Charette.
In the context of the Soviet Union, Time magazine http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,753448-2,00.html attributes it to Lazar Kaganovich.
Walter Duranty associated with Stalin in the New York Times.
"But – to put it brutally – you can't make an omelette without breaking eggs, and the Bolshevist leaders are just as indifferent to the casualties that may be involved in their drive toward socialization as any General during the World War who ordered a costly attack in order to show his superiors that he and his division possessed the proper soldierly spirit. In fact, the Bolsheviki are more indifferent because they are animated by fanatical conviction."
Walter Duranty, Special Cable to The New York Times http://www.artukraine.com/old/famineart/duranty.htm, The New York Times, New York, March 31, 1933, page 13.
Misattributed
Variant: You can't make an omelette without breaking eggs.
“We shall show you, bolsheviks, how to make a revolution.”
Interview with Mikhail Koltsov (July 1936), as quoted inThe Spanish Civil War (1994) by Hugh Thomas, p. 305
Context: It is possible that only a hundred of us will survive, but with that hundred we shall enter Saragossa, beat Fascism and proclaim libertarian communism. I will be the first to enter Saragossa; I will proclaim the free commune. We shall subordinate ourselves neither at Madrid nor Barcelona, neither to Azaña nor Companys. If they wish, they can live in peace with us; if not, we shall go to Madrid … We shall show you, bolsheviks, how to make a revolution.
"Revolución: Movimiento político que ilusiona a muchos, desiluciona a más, incomoda a casi todos y enriquece extraordinariamente a unos pocos. Goza de firme prestigio."
Descanso de caminantes, 2001.