a revolution is not a dinner party

English

Etymology

Calque of Chinese 革命不是請客吃飯 / 革命不是请客吃饭 (gémìng bùshì qǐngkè chīfàn, literally “revolution is not having guests to eat a meal”). An aphoristic political statement by Mao Zedong, defending violence as a means of imposing a different societal order; for more, see Wikipedia at revolution is not a dinner party.

Proverb

a revolution is not a dinner party

  1. In order to achieve something, courtesy, long-held norms, and other such formalities must be dropped.
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