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Daily Inspiration Quote by Abbie Hoffman

"The only way to support a revolution is to make your own"

About this Quote

Revolution, Hoffman suggests, isn’t a brand you endorse; it’s a messy practice you undertake. The line reads like a rebuke to spectatorship, the political equivalent of wearing a protest T-shirt and calling it commitment. “Support” is the trap word here: it implies distance, safety, a role for admirers and donors. Hoffman flips it into a dare. If you want revolution, stop outsourcing it to charismatic leaders, vanguard parties, or the latest movement with good posters. Build your own or admit you’re just cheering.

The subtext is deeply American and deeply suspicious of institutions, including revolutionary ones. Coming out of the 1960s New Left and the Yippies’ prankish, media-savvy agitation, Hoffman understood how quickly dissent becomes spectacle. He also understood how quickly “the revolution” can harden into hierarchy. Making your own is both decentralization and self-defense: it keeps political energy from being captured by gatekeepers who monetize it, police it, or turn it into a lifestyle.

It’s also a clever piece of rhetorical judo. The sentence sounds empowering, almost self-help, but it carries an edge: if you’re waiting for permission, you’ve already lost. Hoffman’s point isn’t that everyone should cosplay as a radical; it’s that real change begins when people stop treating politics as a subscription service and start treating it as something they own, risk, and remake locally, daily, and without guarantees.

Quote Details

TopicFreedom
SourceHelp us find the source
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Hoffman, Abbie. (2026, January 16). The only way to support a revolution is to make your own. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-only-way-to-support-a-revolution-is-to-make-138778/

Chicago Style
Hoffman, Abbie. "The only way to support a revolution is to make your own." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-only-way-to-support-a-revolution-is-to-make-138778/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"The only way to support a revolution is to make your own." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/the-only-way-to-support-a-revolution-is-to-make-138778/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.

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Make Your Own: Abbie Hoffman on Revolution
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About the Author

Abbie Hoffman

Abbie Hoffman (November 30, 1936 - April 12, 1989) was a Activist from USA.

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