The Quotes canon
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Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Browse all 10,075 quotes or apply filters in different categories to narrow your search.
Benjamin Disraeli1 quote
I repeat... That all power is a trust - that we are accountable for its exercise - that, from the people, and for the people, all springs, and all must exist. — Benjamin Disraeli · 1826Charles A. Beard1 quote
It is for us... To inquire constantly and persistently, when theories of national power or states' rights are propounded: "What interests are behind them and to whose advantage will changes or the maintenance of old forms accrue?" By refusing to do this we become victims of history-clay in the hands of its makers. — Charles A. Beard · 1935Jimmy Breslin1 quote
All political power is primarily an illusion... Mirrors and blue smoke, beautiful blue smoke rolling over the surface of highly polished mirrors, first a thin veil of blue smoke, then a thick cloud, that suddenly dissolves into wisps of blue smoke, the mirrors catching it all, bouncing it back and forth. — Jimmy Breslin · 1975Joseph Stalin1 quote
The State is an instrument in the hands of the ruling class, used to break the resistance of the adversaries of that class. — Joseph Stalin · 1924Leon Trotsky1 quote
Where force is necessary, there it must be applied boldly, decisively and completely. But one must know the limitations of force; one must know when to blend force with a maneuver, a blow with an agreement. — Leon Trotsky · 1932Niccolo Machiavelli1 quote
This leads to a debate: is it better to be loved than feared, or the reverse? The answer is that it is desirable to be both, but because it is difficult to join them together, it is much safer for a prince to be feared than loved, if he is to fail in one of the two. — Niccolo Machiavelli · 1532Sir Walter Raleigh1 quote
Whosoever commands the sea commands the trade; whosoever commands the trade of the world commands the riches of the world, and consequently the world itself. — Sir Walter Raleigh · 1618