“It is the nature of conquest to turn everything upside down.”

—  Thomas Paine , book Rights of Man

Part 1.3 Rights of Man
1790s, Rights of Man, Part I (1791)

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Thomas Paine 262
English and American political activist 1737–1809

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“The central core of truth is that Christmas turns everything upside down, the upside of heaven come down to earth. The Christmas story puts a new value on every man.”

Halford E. Luccock (1885–1960) American Methodist minister

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Context: The central core of truth is that Christmas turns everything upside down, the upside of heaven come down to earth. The Christmas story puts a new value on every man. He is not a thing to be used, not a chemical accident, not an educated ape. Every man is a V. I. P., because he has divine worth. That was revealed when "Love came down at Christmas." A scientist said, making a plea for exchange scholarships between nations, "The best way to send an idea is to wrap it up in a person." That was what happened at Christmas. The idea of divine love was wrapped up in a person.

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“The world isn’t that easily turned upside down, Haida replied. It’s people who are turned upside down.”

Haruki Murakami book Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

Source: Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage

“We are the people who turned the world upside down.”

Ann Lee (1736–1784) English Shaker leader

Attributed to Lee in "Harpy Hall of Fame: Mother Ann Lee (1736-1784)" at The Pursuit of Harpyness (4 February 2009) http://www.harpyness.com/2009/02/04/harpy-hall-of-fame-mother-ann-lee-1736-1784/; no earlier attributions have as yet been located.
Disputed

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“Bury me on my face," said Diogenes; and when he was asked why, he replied, "Because in a little while everything will be turned upside down.”

Diogenes Laërtius (180–240) biographer of ancient Greek philosophers

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“When everything on the ship was being turned upside down, the music remained the same. In the midst of mind-jarring abnormality, it was the one thing that retained its familiarity.”

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“Christmas is a story about a baby, and that is a baby's chief business, turning things upside down.”

Halford E. Luccock (1885–1960) American Methodist minister

Whoops! It's Christmas (1959)
Context: A lady, who looked like an animated Christmas tree with packages dangling from every limb, and I bumped and spilled. As I was trying to pick up the packages she gasped out, “Oh, I hate Christmas, anyhow! It turns everything upside down.”
I said, “That is just what it was made for.” But this lofty sentiment did not stop her dirty looks at all. But it is the big thing about Christmas!
Christmas is a story about a baby, and that is a baby's chief business, turning things upside down. It is gross slander on babies that their chief passion is food. It is rearrangement! Every orthodox baby rearranges everything he sees, or can get his little hooks into, from the order of who's important in the family, to the dishes on the table. A baby in a family divides time into two eras, just as Christmas does. There is B. C., which means "before child," and A. D., which means "after deluge."

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“Like a fool, I fell in love with you,
Turned my whole world upside down”

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“Lift the world up by your levity,
Rock, love, carry it away, turn it upside down.”

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Context: Teach the crippled how to leap,
Throw their crutches on a heap,
Rock, love, carry it away, turn it upside down.
Rock, love, carry it away,
Lift the world up by your levity,
Rock, love, carry it away, turn it upside down.

“For a moment, I felt as if the universe had turned upside down and we were falling softly into an enormous black bowl of stars, and I knew, beyond any doubt, that everything was going to be alright.”

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Source: In the Woods

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