Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quote Share via Email Print this Page [1-20] of 177 Despotism quotesDespotism QuotesDespotism Next 20 quotes Governors have no Right to seek and take what they please; by this, instead of being content with the Station assigned them, that of honorable Servants of the Society, they would soon become Absolute Masters, Despots,and Tyrants. Hence, as a private Man has a Right to say what Wages he will give in his private Affairs, so has a Community to determine what they will give and grant of their Substance for the Administration of public Affairs.~ Samuel Adams How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words!~ Samuel Adams [O]ur sages in the great [constitutional] convention... intended our government should be a republic which differs more widely from a democracy than a democracy from a despotism. The rigours of a despotism often... oppress only a few, but it is the very essence and nature of a democracy, for a faction claiming to oppress a minority, and that minority the chief owners of the property and truest lovers of their country.~ Fisher Ames Liberty has never lasted long in a democracy, nor has it ever ended in anything better than despotism.~ Fisher Ames The three aims of the tyrant are, one, the humiliation of his subjects; he knows that a mean-spirited man will not conspire against anybody; two, the creation of mistrust among them; for a tyrant is not to be overthrown until men begin to have confidence in one another -- and this is the reason why tyrants are at war with the good; they are under the idea that their power is endangered by them, not only because they will not be ruled despotically, but also because they are too loyal to one another and to other men, and do not inform against one another or against other men -- three, the tyrant desires that all his subjects shall be incapable of action, for no one attempts what is impossible and they will not attempt to overthrow a tyranny if they are powerless.~ Aristotle Actually, it is not strange that during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the human race was regarded as inert matter, ready to receive everything -- form, face, energy, movement, life -- from a great prince or a great legislator or a great genius. These centuries were nourished on the study of antiquity. And antiquity presents everywhere -- in Egypt, Persia, Greece, Rome -- the spectacle of a few men molding mankind according to their whims, thanks to the prestige of force and of fraud. But this does not prove that this situation is desirable. It proves only that since men and society are capable of improvement, it is naturally to be expected that error, ignorance, despotism, slavery, and superstition should be greatest towards the origins of history. The writers quoted above were not in error when they found ancient institutions to be such, but they were in error when they offered them for the admiration and imitation of future generations. Uncritical and childish conformists, they took for granted the grandeur, dignity, morality, and happiness of the artificial societies of the ancient world. They did not understand that knowledge appears and grows with the passage of time; and that in proportion to this growth of knowledge, might takes the side of right, and society regains possession of itself.~ Frederic Bastiat In short, is not liberty the freedom of every person to make full use of his faculties, so long as he does not harm other persons while doing so? Is not liberty the destruction of all despotism -- including, of course, legal despotism? Finally, is not liberty the restricting of the law only to its rational sphere of organizing the right of the individual to lawful self-defense; of punishing injustice?~ Frederic Bastiat Never could an increase of comfort or security be a sufficient good to be bought at the price of liberty.~ Hilaire Belloc The first people totalitarians destroy or silence are men of ideas and free minds.~ Isaiah Berlin An election is nothing more than the advanced auction of stolen goods.~ Ambrose Bierce That the king can do no wrong is a necessary and fundamental principle of the English constitution.~ Sir William Blackstone We must take the battle to the enemy, disrupt his plans, and confront the worst threats before they emerge.~ George W. Bush I'm a war president. I make decisions here in the Oval Office and foreign policy matters with war on my mind.~ George W. Bush Our enemies are a radical network of terrorists -- and every government that supports them.~ George W. Bush I want him [Saddam Hussein]. I want -- I want justice. There is an old poster seen out west. As I recall, it said, Wanted Dead or Alive.~ George W. Bush Saddam Hussein's regime is a gray and gathering danger.~ George W. Bush There will be no going back to the era before September 11th, 2001, to false comfort in a dangerous world.~ George W. Bush Today the Justice Department did issue a blanket alert. It was in recognition of a general threat we received. This is not the first time the Justice Department have acted like this. I hope it is the last. But given the attitude of the evildoers, it may not be.~ George W. Bush Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists.~ George W. Bush There are some who feel like that, you know, the conditions are such that they can attack us there [in Iraq]. My answer is, 'Bring 'em on.' ~ George W. Bush Next 20 quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print