“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.”
" Thoughts on Politics and Revolution: A Commentary http://books.google.com/books?id=iMIPAQAAMAAJ&q="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"".
Crises of the Republic (1969)
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Hannah Arendt 85
Jewish-American political theorist 1906–1975Related quotes
Source: The Greening of America (1970), Chapter VIII : The Machine Begins To Self-Destruct, p. 189-190

Les silences du colonel Bramble (The Silence of Colonel Bramble)

Fragment No. 104; on Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France (1790).
Blüthenstaub (1798)

Commentary on the Communist revolution in China.
Years of Crisis (1955)

Speech to University students (1959)

“A revolutionary moment in the world’s history is a time for revolutions, not for patching.”
Pt. 1, 7
Social Insurance and Allied Services (1942)
Context: Any proposals for the future, while they should use to the full the experience gathered in the past, should not be restricted by consideration of sectional interests established in the obtaining of that experience. Now, when the war is abolishing landmarks of every kind, is the opportunity for using experience in a clear field. A revolutionary moment in the world’s history is a time for revolutions, not for patching.

Interview with Oriana Fallaci (2 December 1979), Corriere della Sera
Interviews