Despots Quotes

• Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Freedom, 4th Of July, Men

  Thomas Jefferson (2010). “The Works of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence 1793-1798”, p.238, Cosimo, Inc.

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• Absolute power turns its possessors not into a God but an anti-God. For God turned clay into men, while the absolute despot turns men into clay.

  Eric Hoffer

  Power, Men, Clay

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• The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.

  James Madison

  Power, Hands, Essence

  James Madison, Ralph Ketcham “Selected Writings of James Madison”, Hackett Publishing

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• If you think of yourselves as helpless and ineffectual, it is certain that you will create a despotic government to be your master. The wise despot, therefore, maintains among his subjects a popular sense that they are helpless and ineffectual.

  Frank Herbert

  Wise, Thinking, Government

  Frank Herbert (2017). “The Dosadi Experiment and The Eyes of Heisenberg: Two Classic Works of Science Fiction”, p.107, Tor Science Fiction

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• Absolute power corrupts even when exercised for humane purposes. The benevolent despot who sees himself as a shepherd of the people still demands from others the submissiveness of sheep. The taint inherent in absolute power is not its inhumanity but its anti-humanity.

  Eric Hoffer

  Sheep, People, Humanity

  Eric Hoffer (1982). “Between the Devil and the Dragon: The Best Essays and Aphorisms of Eric Hoffer”, HarperCollins Publishers

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• Close alliances with despots are never safe for free states.

  Demosthenes

  Safety, Alliances, States

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• It is the old practice of despots to use a part of the people to keep the rest in order.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Freedom, Order, Practice

  Thomas Jefferson, Henry Augustine Washington (1859). “The Writings of Thomas Jefferson: Correspondence”, p.246

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• Despotism is unjust to everybody, including the despot, who was probably made for better things.

  Oscar Wilde

  Government, Unjust, Made

  Oscar Wilde (2007). “The Collected Works of Oscar Wilde”, p.1049, Wordsworth Editions

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• Mankind will in time discover that unbridled majorities are as tyrannical and cruel as unlimited despots.

  John Adams

  Libertarian Party, Liberty, Majority

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• If a despot like Adolf Hitler can think of 1000-year reign, why can't you think of a goal that is gonna last 100 years after you have gone?

  Peter J. Daniels

  Thinking, Years, Goal

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• Be assured, fellow citizens, that in a democracy it is the laws that guard the person of the citizen and the constitution of the state, whereas the despot and the oligarch find their protection in suspicion and in armed guards.

  Aeschines

  Law, Tyrants, Democracy

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• A despot doesn't fear eloquent writers preaching freedom- he fears a drunken poet who may crack a joke that will take hold.

  E. B. White

  Cracks, May, Poet

  "One Man's Meat". Book by Elwyn Brooks White, 1942.

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• Poverty in a democracy is as much to be preferred to what is called prosperity under despots, as freedom is to slavery.

  Democritus

  Democracy, Poverty, Slavery

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• If it's a despot you would dethrone, see first that his throne erected within you is destroyed.

  Khalil Gibran

  Thrones, Firsts, Tyranny

  Khalil Gibran (2007). “Kahlil Gibran: Masterpieces”

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• Idealism is the despot of thought, just as politics is the despot of will.

  Mikhail Bakunin

  Tyrants, Idealism And Realism, Ideals

  Mikhail Aleksandrovich Bakunin (1953). “The Political Philosophy of Bakunin: Scientific Anarchism”, Free Pr

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• A nation ignorant of the equal benefits of liberty and law, must be awed by the flashes of arbitrary power: the cruelty of a despot will assume the character of justice; his profusion, of liberality; his obstinacy, of firmness.

  Edward Gibbon

  Character, Law, Justice

  Edward Gibbon (2016). “The Collected Works of Edward Gibbon: Historical Works, Autobiographical Writings and Private Letters, Including The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire”, p.3359, e-artnow

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• Despotism increases in severity with the number of despots; the responsibility is more divided, and the claims are more numerous.

  William Wells Brown

  Responsibility, Tyrants, Numbers

  William Wells Brown (1853). “Clotel; or, The president's daughter”, p.179

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• Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.

  C. S. Lewis

  Peace, War, Government

  C. S. Lewis (2003). “A Mind Awake: An Anthology of C. S. Lewis”, p.45, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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• Someone recently pointed out how much Barack Obama's style and strategies resemble those of Latin American charismatic despots - the takeover of industries by demagogues who never ran a business, the rousing rhetoric of resentment addressed to the masses and the personal cult of the leader promoted by the media. But do we want to become the world's largest banana republic?

  Thomas Sowell

  Latin, Media, Leader

  Thomas Sowell (2011). “Dismantling America and Other Controversial Essays (Large Print 16pt)”, p.100, ReadHowYouWant.com

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• The greatest slave is not he who is ruled by a despot, great though that evil be, but he who is in the thrall of his own moral ignorance, selfishness, and vice.

  Samuel Smiles

  Ignorance, Evil, Selfishness

  Samuel Smiles (1873). “Self-help; with Illustrations of Character, Conduct, and Perseverance”, p.19

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• Liberty is of small value to the lower third of humanity. They greatly prefer security, which means protection by some class above them. They are always in favor of despots who promise to feed them. The only liberty an inferior man really cherishes is the liberty to quit work, stretch out in the sun, and scratch himself.

  H. L. Mencken

  Mean, Men, Class

  H.L. Mencken (2013). “Minority Report”, p.250, Knopf

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• The consent of the governed" is more than a safeguard against ignorant tyrants: it is an insurance against benevolent despots as well.

  Walter Lippmann

  Tyrants, Ignorant, Democracy

  Walter Lippmann (1914). “A Preface to Politics”

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• A good constitution is infinitely better than the best despot.

  Thomas B. Macaulay

  Tyrants, Constitution

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• Despots and democratic majorities are drunk with power.

  Ludwig von Mises

  Freedom, Drunk, Democracy

  Ludwig Von Mises (1963). “Human action: a treatise on economics”

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• Despots prefer the friendship of the dog, who, unjustly mistreated and debased, still loves and serves the man who wronged him.

  Charles Fourier

  Dog, Men, He Man

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