Quotes About Despotism

Man is insatiable for power; he is infantile in his desires and, always discontented with what he has, loves only what he has not. People complain of the despotism of princes; they ought to complain of the despotism of man.

Man is insatiable for power; he is infantile in his desires and, always discontented with what he has, loves only what he has not. People complain of the despotism of princes; they ought to complain of the despotism of man. We are all born despots, from the most absolute monarch in Asia to the infant who smothers a bird with its hand for the pleasure of seeing that there exists in the world a being weaker than itself.

Despotism can only exist in darkness, and there are too many lights now in the political firmament to permit it to remain anywhere, as it has heretofore done, almost everywhere.

Is not liberty the destruction of all despotism - including, of course, legal despotism?

Travelers describe a tree in the island of Java whose pestiferous exhalations blight every tiny blade of grass within the compass of its shade. So it is with despotism.

A state too extensive in itself, or by virtue of its dependencies, ultimately falls into decay; its free government is transformed into a tyranny; it disregards the principles which it should preserve, and finally degenerates into despotism. The distinguishing characteristic of small republics is stability: the character of large republics is mutability.

diktatörlüÄŸün baÅŸlang?çtaki amaçlar?nda iyi diye ne varsa despotizmin kaç?n?lmaz mant??? dolay?s?yla bunlar?n tümü yok olacak ve dikta iktidar?n? koruma amac?, devlet mekanizmas?n?n yal?n amac? olarak gitgide daha güçlü bir biçimde ortaya ç?kacakt?r...

Treachery, disloyalty, cruelty, tyranny ... are our ordinary vices. - Montaigne, "Of Cannibals

Liberty has never lasted long in a democracy, nor has it ever ended in anything better than despotism.

In general, however, these gentlemen, the reformers, legislators, and politicians, do not desire to exercise an immediate despotism over mankind. No, they are too moderate and too philanthropic for that. They only contend for the despotism, the absolutism, the omnipotence of the law.

To consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions is a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one which would place us under the despotism of an oligarchy. — Thomas Jefferson

We should not underestimate that: the Chinese people's ignorance. Thousands of years of despotism had been such a poison that their understanding of modern politics is even inferior to that of the black slaves and other immigrants.

Es gehört zur Tragik aller Despoten, daß sie den unabhängigen Menschen selbst dann noch fürchten, wenn sie ihn politisch machtlos und mundtot gemacht haben. Es genügt ihnen nicht, daß er schweigt und schweigen muß. Schon daß er nicht ja sagt, nicht dient und nicht buckelt, daß er sich nicht geschäftig in die Schar ihrer Schmeichler und Diener einreiht, macht sein Vorhandensein, sein Nochvorhandensein für sie zum Ärgernis.

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism.

Is not liberty the destruction of all despotism - including, of course, legal despotism?

Socialism is the phantastic younger brother of despotism, which it wants to inherit. Socialism wants to have the fullness of state force which before only existed in despotism. ... However, it goes further than anything in the past because it aims at the formal destruction of the individual ... who ... can be used to improve communities by an expedient organ of government.

To understand fully the causes which drove so many thousands into schism and heresy, leading to wars and persecutions, and the establishment of the Inquisition, it is necessary{6} to cast a glance at the character of the men who represented the Church before the people, and at the use which they made, for good or for evil, of the absolute spiritual despotism which had become established. In

Demokrasi ve despotizm aras?ndaki fark: demokrasilerde kan dökmeden hükümetler devrilir; oysa despotizmde bu böyle de?ildir. 3. Demokrasi, vatanda?lara iyilikler sunamaz (ve sunmamal? da). Gerçekten de "demokrasi" tek ba??na bir ?ey yapamaz; bir ?eyler yapacak olan ancak demokratik bir devletin vatanda?lar?d?r (ve ku?kusuz hükümetleridir).

Inefficiency is to be our safeguard against despotism.

Nothing is more unpopular today than the free market economy, i.e., capitalism." It ended with these words: "Not mythical 'material productive forces,' but reason and ideas determine the course of human affairs. What is needed to stop the trend towards socialism and despotism is common sense and moral courage." More than any other

The lesson was writ plain by Thucydides centuries before Christ was born. Democracy satisfies best the human thirst for freedom; yet, being undisciplined, turbulent, and luxury-seeking, it falls time and again to austere single-minded despotism.

If Despotism failed only for want of a capable benevolent despot, what chance has Democracy, which requires a whole population of capable voters.

I think this illustrates succinctly what the Magravandian kings have become," Tayven said. "Moldy, stagnant, rotten, and dank.

d]espotism is a legitimate mode of government in dealing with barbarians, provided the end be their improvements, and the means justified by actually effecting that end.