On revolutions, or, be careful what you wish for...

     How a revolution erupts from a commonplace event - tidal wave from a ripple - is cause for endless astonishment.  Neither Luther in 1517 nor the men who gathered at Versailles in 1789 intended at first what they produced at last.  Even less did the Russian Liberals who made the revolution of 1917 foresee what followed.  All were as ignorant as everybody else of how much was about to be destroyed.  Nor could they guess what feverish feelings, what strange behavior ensue when revolution, great or short-lived, is in the air.

Jacques Barzun, as taken from From Dawn To Decadence:  1500 To The Present:  500 Years of Western Cultural Life