Sorry if this is rather specific. What I've found in reading a fair amount of revolutionary history are all these countless quotes of people with revolutionary politics boldly and confidently declaring that revolution is right around the corner, often completely wrong. I'm now looking for the opposite. People who held revolutionary ideals, but were cynical about revolutionary prospects, only for it to turn out that they were on the eve of revolution.
No specific revolution or revolutionary ideology is necessary, though (for bonus points) I would particularly like to find quotes from the French Revolution or other revolts against monarchy, or the Spanish Civil War/Russian Revolution or other revolts against capitalism.
The ideal quote would be something like, "Sure Pierre, we all hate the monarchy, but we won't see a widespread movement to institute a more representative government in our lifetime, mark my words" -Some French revolutionary, 1788
I also understand that it might not be likely that everyone in this sub has my ideal quote just waiting for me, so of course I would be happy just to be pointed in the right direction for books/articles to check in, relevant people to ask this question to, related info, etc. etc. etc.
Thanks so much!
This isn't exactly the answer you're looking for, but it might be a good start until someone can give you a better example.
The October Revolution in Russia came as a surprise to a lot of people at the time, not necessarily because nobody expected a revolution in Russia, but because many communists didn't believe it was ready to happen.
The Communist Manifesto explains some requirements for the transition into communism that Russia failed to satisfy in 1917. A feudal society was supposed to give way to an industrialized "bourgeois capitalist" society, which would then fall to a "dictatorship of the proletariat" until the society transitioned into communism. The Communist Manifesto doesn't give a specific timeline of events but this was supposed to be a very long process.
In January 1917, Russia was barely industrialized compared to the rest of Europe, and in February (or March) 1917 the emperor abdicated and the Russian Republic was founded, so to most observers it probably seemed like Russia was on its way to the bourgeois capitalist phase- and this included Russian communists. From March 1917 onward, support for the Russian Provisional Government was in a downward spiral, mostly because of its refusal to withdraw from World War I. After the disastrous July Offensive, there were demonstrations in Petrograd where workers and soldiers demanded the Provisional Government cede power to the Soviets and the Bolshevik Party (who had continually refused to participate in the Provisional Government). There's a story of demonstrators confronting a Bolshevik leader and demanding that the Bolsheviks accept the power the people were offering, only to have the leader respond that Russia was in a phase of bourgeois democracy, and the time wasn't right for a communist revolution. I'm not sure if this is apocryphal, although it's definitely true that even though the people were demanding it, some communists themselves didn't even believe that Russia was ready to see a communist revolution.
Some sources:
Revolutionary Russia, 1917 by John M Thompson
The Russian Revolution by Sheila Fitzpatrick
The "Norton Critical Edition" of The Communist Manifesto
Revising the Communist Manifesto by Eduard Bernstein