Agitation is the marshalling of the conscience of a nation to mould its laws. Robert Peel
If it had not been for the discontent of a few fellows who had not been satisfied with their conditions, you would still be living in caves. Intelligent discontent is the mainspring of civilization. Progress is born of agitation. It is agitation or stagnation. Eugene Debs
It is odd but agitation or contest of any kind gives a rebound to my spirits and sets me up for a time. Lord Byron
The short lesson that comes out of long experience in political agitation is something like this: all the motive power in all of these movements is the instinct of religious feeling. All the obstruction comes from attempting to rely on anything else. Conciliation is the enemy. John Jay Chapman
Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning. Frederick Douglass