(He) was in love with the idea of revolution. Men like that, even when they turn their backs on their party and their comrades, can never let go of the idea: it's the secret god that rules their hearts. It is what makes them come alive; they revel in the danger, the exquisite pain. It is to them what childbirth is to a woman, or war to a mercenary.
Amitav Ghosh (2014). “The Hungry Tide: A Novel”, p.100, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt