Quotes About Rulership

Is a broken king really better than a mad one?

You can either be informed and your own rulers, or you can be ignorant and have someone else, who is not ignorant, rule over you.

A monarchy conducted with infinite wisdom and infinite benevolence is the most perfect of all possible governments.

La primera enseñanza de la polis griega es que la peor ley escrita es mejor que el albedrío del más magnánimo de los señores. No es extraño qüe la aristocracia primitiva exigiese que las leyes le asegurasen su poder mediante «draconianas» disposiciones, y que, aun así, la aceptación de las leyes hubiese de serle arrancada. Sabía que la concesión que se veía obligada a hacer era cualitativamente impagable, que no podía haber contrapartida equivalente.

En la justicia se fundan los imperios.

The iron hand crush'd the Tyrant's head And became a Tyrant in his stead.

Nevertheless power and domination are not given even to such men save by the providence of the most high God, when He judges that the state of human affairs is worthy of such lords.

As Dio observed later, democracy sounded very well and good, "but its results are seen not to agree at all with its title. Monarchy, on the contrary, has an unpleasant sound, but is a most practical form of government to live under. For it is easier to find a single excellent man than many of them.

Kings exercise control over people, and scholars exercise control over kings.

Good men can make terrible kings,' Tindwyl noted. 'But bad men cannot make good kings.' Sazed said. 'It is better to start with a good man and work on the rest, I think.

Manipulation works so well on a personal level, I don't see why it wouldn't be an equally viable national policy." "That's actually how most rulership works," Ham mused. "What is a governement but an institutionalized method of making sure somebody else does all the work?

Good men can make terrible kings," Tindwyl noted. "But bad men cannot make good kings

I've never understood one thing: Why do all these megalomaniac dictators, secret societies, mad scientists, and totalitarian aliens want to rule the world? I mean really? Don't they know what a pain in the neck it is to be in charge? People are always making unreasonable demands of kings. "Please save us from the invading Vandal hoards! Please make sure we have proper sanitation to prevent the spread of disease! Please stop beheading your wives so often; it's ruining the rugs!

That's the way of most rulership," Ham mused. "What is a government but an institutionalized method of making sure somebody else does all the work?

I'm Machiavelli's offspring, I'm the king of New York, king of the coast, one hand, I juggle them both.

They say that the commons of England would first destroy the king's friends and afterward himself, and then bring the Duke of York to be king so that by their false means and lies they may make him to hate and destroy his friends, and cherish his false traitors.

Kings come and go, but sovereignty remains. Kings are men, and men may fall to vice and corruption, but sovereignty is pure and undefiled at its source.

All thrones should be made of ice, I think. Sit on that numb arse, sinking down and down, with the puddle of dissolution getting ever wider around you. Sit, dear ruler, and tell me all your grand designs.

In the darkest region of the political field the condemned man represents the symmetrical, inverted figure of the king.

It is difficult to make power lovable—this is the dilemma of all governments. —PADISHAH EMPEROR HASSIK III, private Kaitain journals

Things like crowns had a troublesome effect on clever folk; it was best to leave all the reigning to the kind of people whose eyebrows met in the middle when they tried to think. In a funny sort of way, they were much better at it.

Don't forget your great guns, which are the most respectable arguments of the rights of kings.

Divine right of kings means the divine right of anyone who can get uppermost.

To know how to dissimulate is the knowledge of kings.