Most observers of the French Revolution, especially the clever and noble ones, have explained it as a life-threatening and contagious illness. They have remained standing with the symptoms and have interpreted these in manifold and contrary ways. Some have regarded it as a merely local ill. The most ingenious opponents have pressed for castration. They well noticed that this alleged illness is nothing other than the crisis of beginning puberty.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The French Revolution was a natural developmental crisis like puberty, not just an illness to be cured.
- In plain terms
- The French Revolution was a necessary growing pain for society, not a sickness.
- What can you take from it?
- View large social changes as natural growth stages rather than diseases.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do we distinguish between necessary change and destructive chaos?
- Can society grow in the way a person does?
Another view
Comparing political events to biological puberty oversimplifies complex historical causes.
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