Tyrants Quotes - Page 6

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  Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

  Lord Acton

  Inspirational, Leadership, Work

  Letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, 3 April 1887, in Louise Creighton 'Life and Letters of Mandell Creighton' (1904) vol. 1, ch. 13.

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• I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.

  George C. Wallace

  Dust, Feet, Forever

  First Inaugural Speech as Governor of Alabama, January 1963.

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• Today the tyrant rules not by club or fist, but disguised as a market researcher, he shepherds his flocks in the ways of utility and comfort.

  Marshall McLuhan

  Business, Hands, Deception

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• The tyrant now Trusts not to men: nightly within his chamber The watch-dog guards his couch, the only friend He now dare trust.

  Joanna Baillie

  Dog, Men, Watches

  Joanna Baillie (1832). “The Complete Poetical Works of Joanna Baillie”, p.203

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• All men would be tyrants if they could.

  Daniel Defoe

  Men, Would Be, Unlimited

  The History of the Kentish Petition addenda, l. 11 (1712 - 1713) See Abigail Adams 1

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• Intolerance of oppression, the desire to be free and develop one personality to its full limits, is not enough to make one an anarchist. That aspiration towards unlimited freedom, if not tempered by a love for mankind and by the desire that all should enjoy equal freedom, may well create rebels who soon become exploiters and tyrants.

  Errico Malatesta

  Personality, Desire, Rebel

  Errico Malatesta (2015). “Life and Ideas: The Anarchist Writings of Errico Malatesta”, p.17, PM Press

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• How strangely will the Tools of a Tyrant pervert the plain Meaning of Words!

  Samuel Adams

  Tools, Tyranny, Dictatorship

  Samuel Adams (1968). “The Writings of Samuel Adams: 1773-1777: 1773-1777”

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• Those who would be called tyrants cannot be called free men.

  Nathan Huggins

  Men, Would Be, Free Man

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• Sow seed--but let no tyrant reap;
  Find wealth--let no imposter heap;
  Weave robes--let not the idle wear;
  Forge arms--in your defence to bear.

  Percy Bysshe Shelley

  Rights, Arms, Bears

  Percy Bysshe Shelley (1874). “The Poetical Works of Percy Bysshe Shelley; Essays, Letters from Abroad, Translations and Fragments”, p.247

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• A tyrant is the worst disease, and the cause of all others.

  William Blake

  Disease, Causes, Tyranny

  William Blake (1977). “The Portable William Blake”, p.380, Penguin

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• No government which governs by the use of force can survive except by force. There is no going back because force begets force and the perpetrators of crimes live in fear that they might become victims in their turn.

  Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo

  Fear, Government, Bishops

  Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo (2001). “The Road to Freedom: A Collection of Speeches, Pastoral Letters, and Articles from 1997-2001”

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• Perhaps the fact that we have seen millions voting themselves into complete dependence on a tyrant has made our generation understand that to choose one's government is not necessarily to secure freedom.

  Friedrich August von Hayek

  Freedom, Government, Our Generation

  "The Constitution of Liberty". Book by Friedrich Hayek, 1960.

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• The right of a nation to kill a tyrant in case of necessity can no more be doubted than to hang a robber, or kill a flea.

  John Adams

  Strength, Peace, Doubt

  John Adams (1794). “A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America: Against the Attack of M. Turgot in His Letter to Dr. Price, Dated the Twenty-second Day of March, 1778”, p.385

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• Tyrants are seldom free; the cares and the instruments of their tyranny enslave them.

  George Santayana

  Care, Instruments, Tyranny

  George Santayana (1995). “Dominations and Powers: Reflections on Liberty, Society, and Government”, p.65, Transaction Publishers

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• Democracy and religion stand or fall together. Where democracy has been destroyed, religion has been doomed. Where religion has been trampled down, democracy has ceased to exist.... Tyrants have come and have had their day and then have passed while religion has survived them all.

  Herbert H. Lehman

  Fall, Democracies Have, Together

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• Choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. To be led by a coward is to be controlled by all that the coward fears. To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who control the fool. To be led by a thief is to offer up your most precious treasures to be stolen. To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies. To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery.

  Octavia Butler

  Liars, Lying, Leader

  Octavia E. Butler (2012). “Parable of the Talents”, p.226, Open Road Media

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• The tyrant grinds down his slaves and they don't turn against him, they crush those beneath them.

  Emily Bronte

  Crush, Grind, Slave

  Charlotte Bronte, Emily Bronte, Anne Bronte (2009). “The Bronte Sisters: Three Novels: Jane Eyre; Wuthering Heights; and Agnes Grey (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)”, p.447, Penguin

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• That is why our masters in Washington are so anxious to disarm us. They are not afraid of criminals. They are afraid of a populace which cannot be subdued by tyrants.

  Jeff Cooper

  Gun, Criminals, Masters

  "Jeff Cooper's Commentaries", Vol. 2, No. 5, May 1994.

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• Jealousy is a virtue of democracies which preserves them from tyrants.

  Anatole France

  Democracy, Virtue, Preserves

  Anatole France (2015). “Delphi Complete Works of Anatole France (Illustrated)”, p.1945, Delphi Classics

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• Destiny: A tyrant's authority for crime and a fool's excuse for failure.

  Ambrose Bierce

  Failure, Destiny, Fool

  Enlarged Devil's Dictionary (1967) p. 64

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• The heroes in paganism correspond exactly to the saints in popery, and holy dervises in MAHOMETANISM. The place of, HERCULES, THESEUS, HECTOR, ROMULUS, is now supplied by DOMINIC, FRANCIS, ANTHONY, and BENEDICT. Instead of the destruction of monsters, the subduing of tyrants, the defence of our native country; whippings and fastings, cowardice and humility, abject submission and slavish obedience, are become the means of obtaining celestial honours among mankind.

  David Hume

  Country, Hero, Mean

  David Hume (2016). “Delphi Complete Works of David Hume (Illustrated)”, p.1245, Delphi Classics

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• Recent school shootings have lured ill-informed Americans into a war on our Second Amendment guarantees, led by the nation's tyrants and their useful idiots. ... The Second Amendment was given to us as protection against tyranny by the federal government and the Congress of the United States.

  Walter E. Williams

  War, School, Government

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• Tyrants always condemn and seek to replace the market process with government coercion because tyrants do not trust that people behaving voluntarily will do what the tyrants think they should do.

  Walter E. Williams

  Thinking, Government, People

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• Secrets, silent, stony sit in the dark palaces of both our hearts: secrets weary of their tyranny: tyrants willing to be dethroned.

  James Joyce

  Heart, Dark, Secret

  James Joyce, General Press (2016). “Ulysses”, p.29, GENERAL PRESS

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• It is remarkable how many misconceptions there are here about life in the developing world and I think that that knowledge gap has done a lot to contribute to the imbalance quite frankly.

  Emma Thompson

  Thinking, Gaps, Imbalance

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