“Whatever deficiencies the leaders of the American Revolution may have had, reticence, fortunately, was not one of them.”

—  Bernard Bailyn, book The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution

Source: The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution (1967), Chapter I, THE LITERATURE OF REVOLUTION, p. 1.

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update June 3, 2021. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "Whatever deficiencies the leaders of the American Revolution may have had, reticence, fortunately, was not one of them." by Bernard Bailyn?
Bernard Bailyn photo
Bernard Bailyn27
American historian 1922

Related quotes

Spider Robinson photo

“To all the Callahan's Places there ever were or ever will be, whatever they may be called — and to all the merry maniacs and happy fools who are fortunate enough to stumble into one: may none of them arrive too late!”

Spider Robinson (1948) Canadian author

Toast in The Callahan Chronicals (1996) [originally published as Callahan and Company (1988)], Part IV : Earth … and Beyond, "Post Toast", p. 392

Ernest Hemingway photo

“What happens to people that love each other?'
'I suppose they have whatever they have and they are more fortunate than others. Then one of them gets the emptiness for ever.”

Ernest Hemingway book Across the River and into the Trees

Colonel Richard Cantwell and Renata in Ch. 38
Across the River and into the Trees (1950)

Tanith Lee photo

“Destiny or gods or fortune—whatever one is pleased or innocent enough to call them—they seal men to their decree.”

Tanith Lee book Quest for the White Witch

Book Two, Part I “In the Wilderness”, Chapter 2 (p. 240)
Quest for the White Witch (1978)

Joseph Conrad photo

“The scrupulous and the just, the noble, humane, and devoted natures; the unselfish and the intelligent may begin a movement — but it passes away from them. They are not the leaders of a revolution. They are its victims.”

Joseph Conrad book Under Western Eyes

Pt. II, ch. 3
Under Western Eyes (1911)

Karl Marx photo

“England, it is true, in causing a social revolution in Hindostan, was actuated only by the vilest interests, and was stupid in her manner of enforcing them. But that is not the question. The question is, can mankind fulfil its destiny without a fundamental revolution in the social state of Asia? If not, whatever may have been the crimes of England she was the unconscious tool of history in bringing about that revolution.”

Karl Marx (1818–1883) German philosopher, economist, sociologist, journalist and revolutionary socialist

" The British Rule in India http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1853/06/25.htm," New York Daily Tribune, 10 June 1853.

George Ball (diplomat) photo

“... the ultimate lesson of the Liberty attack had far more effect on policy in Israel than in America. Israel's leaders concluded that nothing they might do would offend the Americans to the point of reprisal. If America's leaders did not have the courage to punish Israel for the blatant murder of American citizens, it seemed clear that their American friends would let them get away with almost anything.”

George Ball (diplomat) (1909–1994) American diplomat

On the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty
Source: [Ball, George W., Ball, Douglas B., The Passionate Attachment: America's Involvement with Israel 1947 to the Present, 1992, W.W. Norton, 0-393-02933-6, 58]

“Fortunes made buying and selling securities have underwritten economic revolutions.”

Aaron C. Brown (1956) American financial analyst

Source: The Poker Face of Wall Street (2006), Chapter 4, A Brief History of Risk Denial, p. 82 (See also: Rothchilds..)

Noam Chomsky photo

“If Hitler had been a crook… We're very fortunate in the United States, we've never had a charismatic leader who weren't a gangster. Every one of them was a thug, or a robber, or something. Which is fine, then they don't cause a lot of trouble. If you get one who's honest, like Hitler, then you're in trouble - they just want power.”

Noam Chomsky (1928) american linguist, philosopher and activist

Interview by Matthew Rothschild, 1997 http://www.freespeech.org/fscm2/contentviewer.php?content_id=727 <br class="br">Quotes 1990s, 1995-1999

Everett Dean Martin photo

“It will hardly be denied that a revolution, whatever else it may be, is a phenomenon of the crowd. I have endeavored to approach the historical survey of revolutionary movements from the standpoint of social psychology.”

Everett Dean Martin (1880–1941)

Source: Farewell to Revolution (1935), p. x, Foreword

Related topics