Zhou Enlai's famous remark about it being "too soon to tell" about the French Revolution's significance was not about the 1789 kick-off but tumultuous goings on in France in 1968 ("Danny the Red," et. al.). Nevertheless, entirely apropos.

"DANTON: Could you indeed? It's you idealists who make the best tyrants.
ROBESPIERRE: It seems a bit late to be having this conversation. I've had to take up violence now, and so much else. We should have discussed it last year."
Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety