Quotes About Tyranny

But order is sometimes tyranny and stultification, as well, when the demand for certainty and uniformity and purity becomes too one-sided.

Only tyranny fears the full expression of liberty.

A knowledge of different literatures is the best way to free one's self from the tyranny of any of them.

A knowledge of different literatures is the best way to free one's self from the tyranny of any of them.

Why independence, if the slaves of today will be the tyrants of tomorrow?

Patriotism can only be a crime in a tyrannical people, because then it is rapine under a beautiful name, but however perfect humanity may become, patriotism will always be a virtue among oppressed peoples, because it will at all times mean love of justice, of liberty, of personal dignity—nothing of chimerical dreams, of effeminate idyls!

There are no tyrants if there are no slaves.

Our liberty will not be secured at the sword's point... We must secure it by making ourselves worthy of it. And when the people reaches that height, God will provide a weapon, the idols will be shattered, tyranny will crumble like a house of cards, and liberty will shine out like the first dawn.

No oppression is so heavy or lasting as that which is inflicted by the perversion and exorbitance of legal authority.

Cato Would Lucius have me live to swell the number Of Caesar's slaves, or by a base submission 30 Give up the cause of Rome, and own a tyrant?

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.

America, which he never visited, he called "that monstrous prison of freedom . . . where the most repulsive of tyrants, the populace, holds vulgar sway" and "all men are equal—equal dolts

Un immonde vieillard essayait de suborner le pays. "Soyez sages, soyez lâches, enseignait-il. Oubliez que vous avez été fiers, joyeux et libres. Obéissez et souriez au vainqueur. Il vous laissera vivoter tranquilles.

have come to see that neutrality is the most extremist stance of all; without it, no tyranny can flourish.

It's good that the first half of the speech emphasized freedom, because George W. Bush has been the global champion for freedom. As he said, if we don't fight tyranny it will not leave us alone in peace.

Such are the cellars over which the proud castles of tyranny rise and above which the aromas of their feast swirl: putrid caves of a gruesome kind in which the depraved rabble regales itself with the violation of human dignity and liberty for all eternity.

We too aspire to communism as the most perfect achievement of human solidarity, but it must be anarchist communism, that is, freely desired and accepted, and the means by which the freedom of everyone is guaranteed and can expand; for these reasons we maintain that State communism, which is authoritarian and imposed, is the most hateful tyranny that has ever afflicted, tormented and handicapped mankind.

Anarchists are justifiably opposed to authoritarian communism, which presupposes a government wanting to direct every aspect of social life, and placing the organization of production and the distribution of wealth under the orders of its nominees, which cannot but create the most hateful tyranny and the crippling of all the living forces in society.

Communism made through the will of a government instead of through the direct and voluntary work of groups of workers does not really appeal to me. If it was possible, it would be the most suffocating tyranny to which human society has ever been subjected.

But communism must be voluntary, freely desired, and accepted; for were it instead to be imposed, it would produce the most monstrous tyranny which would result in a return to bourgeois individualism.

Fare il comunismo prima dell'anarchia, cioè prima di avere conquistata la completa libertà politica ed economica, significherebbe (come è significato in Russia) stabilire la più esosa tirannia, tale da far rimpiangere il regime borghese, e ritornare poi (come purtroppo si ritornerà in Russia) al regime capitalistico

Tyranny and imagination are archenemies.

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