quotations about tyrants and tyranny
The fundamental article of my political creed is, that despotism, or unlimited sovereignty, or absolute power, is the same in a majority of a popular assembly, an aristocratical council, an oligarchical junto, and a single emperor; equally arbitrary, cruel, bloody, and in every respect diabolical.
JOHN ADAMS
letter to Thomas Jefferson, November 13, 1815
A company of tyrants is inaccessible to all seductions.
VOLTAIRE
Dictionnaire philosophique
Tyranny
Absolves all faith; and who invades our rights,
Howe'er his own commence, can never be
But an usurper.
HENRY BROOKE
Gustavus Vasa
If gun ownership is a hedge against tyranny, is this not the exact reason to keep an AR-15 and a few cases of ammunition in your attic?
COURTNEY CAMP
"How Hillary Clinton Convinced Me to Buy an AR-15", Being Libertarian, May 1, 2017
In every tyrant's heart there springs in the end this poison, that he cannot trust a friend.
AESCHYLUS
Prometheus Bound
Tyrants are rebels against the first laws of heaven and society: to oppose their ravages is an instinct of nature, the inspiration of God in the heart of man.
JOSIAH QUINCY
Memoir of the Life of Josiah Quincy
If we should look under the skirt of the prosperous and prevailing tyrant, we should find, even in the days of his joys, such allays and abatements of his pleasure, as may serve to represent him presently miserable, besides his final infelicities.... And although all tyrants have not imaginative and fantastic consciences, yet all tyrants shall die and come to judgment; and such a man is not to be feared, not at all to be envied. And, in the mean time, can he be said to escape who hath an unquiet conscience, who is already designed for hell, he whom God hates, and the people curse, and who hath an evil name, and against whom all good men pray, and many desire to fight, and all wish him destroyed, and some contrive to do it? Is this a blessed man?
JEREMY TAYLOR
Sermon XXXV, The Sermons of the Right Rev. Jeremy Taylor
Of all the tyrannies on human kind
The worst is that which persecutes the mind.
JOHN DRYDEN
The Hind and the Panther
A tyrant has the least respect for one whom he can conquer.
LEWIS F. KORNS
Thoughts
No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets.
EDWARD ABBEY
A Voice Crying in the Wilderness (Vox Clamantis in Deserto)
Dictators ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And the tigers are getting hungry.
WINSTON CHURCHILL
letter, November 11, 1937
The essence of tyranny is to arrogantly abandon the moral law of the City of God which is written, in inchoate form, on our hearts, thus becoming political Frankensteins, creating a monster statecraft.
JAMES H. TONER
"Political Realism", Catholic Citizens, May 3, 2017
One submits to tyranny when one renounces the difference between what one wants to hear and what is actually the case.
MICHAEL BRIGUGLIO
"How is a tyrant identified?", Times of Malta, May 1, 2017
Stability born of tyranny is a false stability.
CONDOLEEZZA RICE
"The moral and practical case for democracy promotion", FOX News, May 9, 2017
Tyrants in the course of time must eventually be overthrown because of the continual opposition of the oppressed. It is an unchanging Law, a constant rule, the penalty is certain, albeit that it is very slow coming to fruition.
FRANCESCO MARIO PAGANO
Saggi Politici
How terrible is the pain of the mind and heart when the freedom of mankind is suppressed!
E. A. BUCCHIANERI
Brushstrokes of a Gadfly
There is a secret pride in every human heart that revolts at tyranny; you may order and drive an individual, but you cannot make him respect you.
JOHN GOODWIN
attributed, Day's Collacon
In an ordinary despotism, the powers of a despot are limited by his bodily capacity, and by the calls of pleasure; he is but one man; there are but twelve hours in his day, and he is not disposed to employ more than a small part in dull business; he keeps the rest for the court, or the harem, or for society.
WALTER BAGEHOT
Literary Studies
It is right to destroy a tyrant, and sacrifice self, if it saves the country and rids the world of a monster.
CHARLOTTE CORDAY
attributed, Day's Collacon
The belief that democracy can liberate a world bound by tyranny is not far-fetched or wrong. The problem lies in implementation.
KATALINA PETERSON
"For speech contest, Beaumont students tackle dilemma of democracy in the Middle East", The Record Gazette, April 20, 2017