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Tyranny23 quotes
Democracy passes into despotism. — Socrates · 375 BCNo tyrant need fear till men begin to feel confident in each other. — Aristotle · 350 BCWhere some people are very wealthy and others have nothing, the result will be either extreme democracy or absolute oligarchy, or despotism will come from either of those excesses. — Aristotle · 350 BCWhere-ever Law ends, Tyranny begins. — John Locke · 1690Of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants. — Alexander Hamilton · 1787The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, selfappointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny. — James Madison · 1788All 23 quotes →Politics8 quotes
Democracy passes into despotism. — Socrates · 375 BCNo tyrant need fear till men begin to feel confident in each other. — Aristotle · 350 BCWhere-ever Law ends, Tyranny begins. — John Locke · 1690Of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants. — Alexander Hamilton · 1787The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, selfappointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny. — James Madison · 1788A dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people than under the forbidden appearance of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government. — Alexander Hamilton · 1787All 8 quotes →Political theory6 quotes
Democracy passes into despotism. — Socrates · 375 BCNo tyrant need fear till men begin to feel confident in each other. — Aristotle · 350 BCWhere-ever Law ends, Tyranny begins. — John Locke · 1690The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, selfappointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny. — James Madison · 1788The 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, and Aristocratical Counsel, an Oligarchical Junto and a Single Emperor. — John Adams · 1813In all tyrannical governments, the supreme magistracy, or the right both of making and of enforcing the laws, is vested in one and the same man, or one and the same body of men; and wherever these two powers are united together, there can be no public liberty. — William Blackstone · 1769Decline of democracy3 quotes
Where some people are very wealthy and others have nothing, the result will be either extreme democracy or absolute oligarchy, or despotism will come from either of those excesses. — Aristotle · 350 BCOf those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants. — Alexander Hamilton · 1787The people have always some champion whom they set over them and nurse into greatness. This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector. — Socrates · 375 BCLaw3 quotes
Where-ever Law ends, Tyranny begins. — John Locke · 1690Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny. — Edmund Burke · 1780Whatever government is not a government of laws, is a despotism, let it be called what it may. — Daniel Webster · 1835Demagoguery2 quotes
Of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants. — Alexander Hamilton · 1787A dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people than under the forbidden appearance of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government. — Alexander Hamilton · 1787Government2 quotes
Whatever government is not a government of laws, is a despotism, let it be called what it may. — Daniel Webster · 1835In all tyrannical governments, the supreme magistracy, or the right both of making and of enforcing the laws, is vested in one and the same man, or one and the same body of men; and wherever these two powers are united together, there can be no public liberty. — William Blackstone · 1769Populism2 quotes
Of those men who have overturned the liberties of republics, the greatest number have begun their career by paying an obsequious court to the people; commencing demagogues, and ending tyrants. — Alexander Hamilton · 1787A dangerous ambition more often lurks behind the specious mask of zeal for the rights of the people than under the forbidden appearance of zeal for the firmness and efficiency of government. — Alexander Hamilton · 1787Revolution2 quotes
No tyrant need fear till men begin to feel confident in each other. — Aristotle · 350 BCRevolutions have never lightened the burden of tyranny: they have only shifted it to another shoulder. — George Bernard Shaw · 1903Rule of law2 quotes
Where-ever Law ends, Tyranny begins. — John Locke · 1690Whatever government is not a government of laws, is a despotism, let it be called what it may. — Daniel Webster · 1835Abuse of power1 quote
Nature has left this Tincture in the Blood,
That all Men wou'd be Tyrants if they cou'd. — Daniel Defoe · 1701Democracy1 quote
Democracy passes into despotism. — Socrates · 375 BCEconomic inequality1 quote
Where some people are very wealthy and others have nothing, the result will be either extreme democracy or absolute oligarchy, or despotism will come from either of those excesses. — Aristotle · 350 BCExploration1 quote
In the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. — Abigail Adams · 1776Feminism1 quote
In the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. — Abigail Adams · 1776Freedom1 quote
Despots themselves do not deny that freedom is excellent; only they desire it for themselves alone, and they maintain that everyone else is altogether unworthy of it. — Alexis de Tocqueville · 1856Freedom of thought1 quote
The most successful tyranny is not the one that uses force to assure uniformity but the one that removes the awareness of other possibilities. — Allan Bloom · 1987Human nature1 quote
Nature has left this Tincture in the Blood,
That all Men wou'd be Tyrants if they cou'd. — Daniel Defoe · 1701Legal theory1 quote
Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny. — Edmund Burke · 1780Martyrdom1 quote
The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and his rule begins. — Soren Kierkegaard · 1848Men and women1 quote
In the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. — Abigail Adams · 1776Oppression1 quote
Under conditions of tyranny it is far easier to act than to think. — Hannah Arendt · 1970Oppression of women1 quote
In the new Code of Laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would Remember the Ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. — Abigail Adams · 1776Overton window1 quote
The most successful tyranny is not the one that uses force to assure uniformity but the one that removes the awareness of other possibilities. — Allan Bloom · 1987Political courage1 quote
The man dies in all who keep silent in the face of tyranny. — Wole Soyinka · 1972Political hypocrisy1 quote
Despots themselves do not deny that freedom is excellent; only they desire it for themselves alone, and they maintain that everyone else is altogether unworthy of it. — Alexis de Tocqueville · 1856Seeds of revolution1 quote
No tyrant need fear till men begin to feel confident in each other. — Aristotle · 350 BCSeparation of powers1 quote
In all tyrannical governments, the supreme magistracy, or the right both of making and of enforcing the laws, is vested in one and the same man, or one and the same body of men; and wherever these two powers are united together, there can be no public liberty. — William Blackstone · 1769Threats to freedom1 quote
Tyranny is always better organized than freedom. — Charles Peguy · 1943Totalitarianism1 quote
By comparison with that existing today, all the tyrannies of the past were half-hearted and inefficient. The ruling groups were always infected to some extent by liberal ideas, and were content to leave loose ends everywhere, to regard only the overt act and to be uninterested in what their subjects were thinking. — George Orwell · 1949