Rulers Quotes - Page 3

• Dictators are rulers who always look good until the last ten minutes.

  Jan Masaryk

  Leadership, Looks, Lasts

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• The rulers of the state are the only persons who ought to have the privilege of lying, either at home or abroad; they may be allowed to lie for the good of the state.

  Plato

  Lying, Home, May

  Plato (1873). “The Dialogues of Plato”, p.211

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• The art of governing is a great metier, requiring the whole man, and it is therefore not well for a ruler to have too strong tendencies for other affairs.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Strong, Art, Men

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Peter Eckermann, Frédéric Jacob Soret (1850). “Conversations of Goethe with Eckermann and Soret”, p.343

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• If a psychiatric and scientific inquiry were to be made upon our rulers, mankind would be appalled at the disclosures.

  Alfred Korzybski

  Science, Would Be, Enquiry

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• Your real self - the I am I - is master of this land, the ruler of this empire. You rightfully have power and dominion over it, all its inhabitants, and all contained in its realm.

  Robert Collier

  Life, Real, Self

  Robert Collier (2013). “Riches Within Your Reach”, p.252, Simon and Schuster

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• You should not do this, Comrade. We are only in the introductory stage yet, here in Western Europe. And in that stage it is better to encourage the fighters than the rulers.

  Herman Gorter

  Encouragement, Europe, Fighter

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• To appear at church every Sunday; to look down upon, and let himself be looked at for an hour by the congregation, is the best means of becoming popular which can be recommended to a young sovereign.

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

  Mean, Sunday, Church

  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Johann Peter Eckermann (2014). “Conversations of Goethe with Johann Peter Eckermann”, p.362, Ravenio Books

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• Education and morals make the good man, the good statesman, the good ruler.

  Aristotle

  Men, Good Man, Moral

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• I can imagine no greater misfortune for a cultured people than to see in the hands of the rulers not only the civil, but also the religious power.

  Catullus

  Religious, Hands, People

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• People know when they are being lied to, they know when their rulers are absurd, they know they do not love their chains.

  Christopher Hitchens

  People, Being Lied, Absurd

  Christopher Hitchens (2005). “Letters to a Young Contrarian”, p.111, Basic Books

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• We cannot change our rulers, but we can change the way they rule us.

  Dhirubhai Ambani

  Inspirational, Powerful, Way

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• In a room sit three great men, a king, a priest, and a rich man with his gold. Between them stands a sellsword, a little man of common birth and no great mind. Each of the great ones bids him slay the other two. ‘Do it,’ says the king, ‘for I am your lawful ruler.’ ‘Do it,’ says the priest, ‘for I command you in the names of the gods.’ ‘Do it,’ says the rich man, ‘and all this gold shall be yours.’ So tell me—who lives and who dies?

  George R. R. Martin

  Kings, Men, Names

  George R. R. Martin (2011). “A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle: A Song of Ice and Fire Series: A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, and A Feast for Crows”, p.796, Bantam

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• No ruler should put troops into the field merely to gratify his own spleen; no general should fight a battle simply out of pique. If it is to your advantage, make a forward move; if not, stay where you are. Anger may in time change to gladness; vexation may be succeeded by content. But a kingdom that has once been destroyed can never come again into being; nor can the dead ever be brought back to life.

  Sun Tzu

  War, Moving, Fighting

  Sun Tzu, General Press (2016). “The Art of War”, p.61, GENERAL PRESS

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• The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in the insidious encroachment by men of zeal, well meaning but without understanding.

  Louis D. Brandeis

  Peace, Freedom, War

  Olmstead v. United States (dissenting opinion) (1928)

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• Liberty is the natural condition of the people. Servitude, however, is fostered when people are raised in subjection. People are trained to adore rulers. While freedom is forgotten by many there are always some who will never submit.

  Etienne de La Boetie

  People, Liberty, Forgotten

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• ... the greater part of the population is not very intelligent, dreads responsibility, and desires nothing better than to be told what to do. Provided the rulers do not interfere with its material comforts and its cherished beliefs, it is perfectly happy to let itself be ruled.

  Aldous Huxley

  Truth, Freedom, Knowledge

  Aldous Huxley (2000). “Complete Essays: 1926-1929”, Ivan R Dee

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• 

  The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.

  Patrick Henry

  Fake People, Freedom, 4th Of July

  "The Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution: Volume 3". Book by Jonathan Elliot, 1836.

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• The modern State exists not to protect our rights but to do us good or make us good - anyway, to do something to us or to make us something. Hence the new name 'leaders' for those who were once 'rulers'. We are less their subjects than their wards, pupils, or domestic animals. There is nothing left of which we can say to them, 'Mind your own business.' Our whole lives are their business.

  C. S. Lewis

  Animal, Rights, Names

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• A prince... must learn from the fox and the lion... One must be a fox in order to recognize traps, and a lion to frighten off wolves. Those who act simply as lions are stupid. So it follows that a prudent ruler cannot, and must not, honour his word when it places him at a disadvantage and when the reasons for which he made his promise no longer exist.

  Niccolo Machiavelli

  Art, War, Stupid

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• Within the hollow crown That rounds the mortal temples of a king Keeps Death his court.

  William Shakespeare

  Kings, Crowns, Temples

  'Richard II' (1595) act 3, sc. 2, l. 155

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• The man who bows before the ruler, shows his behind to the courtiers

  Stanislaw Jerzy Lec

  Men, Bows, He Man

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• It is the rule of law alone which hinders the rulers from turning themselves into the worst gangsters.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Law, Worst, Gangsters

  Ludwig Von Mises (1947). “Planned Chaos”, p.51, Ludwig von Mises Institute

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• There is an inherent tendency in all governmental power to recognize no restraints on its operation and to extend the sphere of its dominion as much as possible. To control everything, to leave no room for anything to happen of its own accord without the interference of the authorities--th is is the goal for which every ruler secretly strives.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Goal, Dominion, Rooms

  Ludwig von Mises (2016). “Liberalism: The Classical Tradition: The Economist”, p.53, VM eBooks

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• The impious presumption of legislators and rulers, civil as well as ecclesiastical, who, being themselves but fallible and uninspired men, have assumed dominion over the faith of others, setting up their own opinions and modes of thinking as the only true and infallible, and as such endeavoring to impose them on others, hath established and maintained false religions over the greatest part of the world and through all time.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Men, Thinking, Church

  Thomas Jefferson (2010). “The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence 1771 - 1779, the Summary View, and the Declaration of Independence”, p.439, Cosimo, Inc.

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• One cannot have a trade union or a democratic election without freedom of speech, freedom of association and assembly. Without a democratic election, whereby people choose and remove their rulers, there is no method of securing human rights against the state. No democracy without human rights, no human rights without democracy, and no trade union rights without either. That is our belief; that is our creed.

  George Meany

  Rights, People, Freedom Of Speech

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