|
Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God.
JOHN BRADSHAW, inscription on his tombstone
- Nature has left this tincture in the blood,
- That all men would be tyrants if they could.
DANIEL DEFOE, The Kentish Petition
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
WILLIAM PITT, speech, Nov. 18, 1783
When a people shall have become incapable of governing themselves, and fit for a master, it is of little consequence from what quarter he comes.
GEORGE WASHINGTON, letter to the Marquis de Lafayette, Apr. 28, 1788
Authority and power are two different things: power is the force by means of which you can oblige others to obey you. Authority is the right to direct and command, to be listened to or obeyed by others. Authority requests power. Power without authority is tyranny.
JACQUES MARITAIN, "The Democratic Charter," Man and the State
The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
THOMAS JEFFERSON, letter to W.S. Smith, Nov. 13, 1787
God Himself has no right to be a tyrant.
WILLIAM GODWIN, Sketches of History
- Tyranny
- Is far the worst of treasons. Dost thou deem
- None rebels except subjects? The prince who
- Neglects or violates his trust is more
- A brigand than the robber-chief.
LORD BYRON, The Two Foscari
Have you any idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress? All of them realize that, one day, amongst their many victims, there is sure to be one who rises against them and strikes back!
J. K. ROWLING, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
A tyrant has the least respect for one whom he can conquer.
Make men large and strong, and tyranny will bankrupt itself in making shackles for them.
HENRY WARD BEECHER, Proverbs from Plymouth Pulpit
If I am to be hedged in on every side, to be fretted by the perpetual presence of arbitrary will, to be denied the exercise of my powers, it matters nothing to me whether the chain is laid on me by one or many, by king or people. A despot is not more tolerable for his many heads.
WILLIAM E. CHANNING, Thoughts
If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.
JAMES MADISON, attributed, Founders V. Bush
When the shepherd is a wolf, the flock becomes only so much meat.
BRIAN HERBERT & KEVEN J. ANDERSON, Dune: House Corrino
The right of a nation to kill a tyrant, in cases of necessity, can no more be doubted, than to hang a robber, or kill a flea. But killing one tyrant only makes way for worse, unless the people have sense, spirit and honesty enough to establish and support a constitution guarded at all points against the tyranny of the one, the few, and the many.
JOHN ADAMS, A Defence of the Constitutions of Government
|
