Tyranny Quotes

• When tyranny becomes law, rebellion becomes duty.

  Thomas Jefferson

  Law, Rebellion, Duty

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• The greatest tyrannies are always perpetuated in the name of the noblest causes.

  Thomas Paine

  Names, Causes, Security And Liberty

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• All tyrannies rule through fraud and force, but once the fraud is exposed they must rely exclusively on force.

  George Orwell

  Force, Fraud, Exposed

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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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• The secret of freedom lies in educating people, whereas the secret of tyranny is in keeping them ignorant.

  Maximilien Robespierre

  Lying, Tyrants, People

  "Oeuvres". Volume 2, p. 253, 1840.

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• Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

  C. S. Lewis

  Wisdom, Religious, Freedom

  "The Humanitarian Theory of Punishment". "God in the Dock". Book by C. S. Lewis, 1970.

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• Every collectivist revolution rides in on a Trojan horse of "emergency". It was the tactic of Lenin, Hitler, and Mussolini. In the collectivist sweep over a dozen minor countries of Europe, it was the cry of men striving to get on horseback. And "emergency" became the justification of the subsequent steps. This technique of creating emergency is the greatest achievement that demagoguery attains.

  Herbert Hoover

  Country, Horse, Men

  Herbert Hoover (1952). “Memoirs: The great depression, 1929-1941”

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  There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice.

  Baron de Montesquieu

  Law, Names, Tyrants

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• There's a dishonest tyranny in the liberal/progressive/socialist agenda that comes down and says 'we are here because we care about you; we want what's best for you'. But really what they want is the control of your life.

  Allen West

  Control Of Your Life, Agendas, Care

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  If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.

  James Madison

  Inspirational, Freedom, Fear

  "The Last Enemy" by Rebecca Sato, www.pbs.org. November 11, 2010.

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• Propaganda is persuading people to make up their minds while withholding some of the facts from them.

  Harold Evans

  Tyrants, People, Mind

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• The ideal tyranny is that which is ignorantly self-administered by its victims. The most perfect slaves are, therefore, those which blissfully and unawaredly enslave themselves. A truth's initial commotion is directly proportional to how deeply the lie was believed. It wasn't the world being round that agitated people, but that the world wasn't flat. When a well-packaged web of lies has been sold gradually to the masses over generations, the truth will seem utterly preposterous and its speaker a raving lunatic.

  Donald James

  Truth, Lying, Self

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• In a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act.

  George Orwell

  Inspirational, Inspiring, Wisdom

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• The propagandist's purpose is to make one set of people forget that certain other sets of people are human.

  Aldous Huxley

  Thinking, Compassion, Tyrants

  1937 The Olive Tree.

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• When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know, the end result is tyranny and oppression no matter how holy the motives.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Atheist, Government, Church

  Robert A. Heinlein (2007). “Glory Road”, p.318, Macmillan

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• The Conservative does not despise government. He despises tyranny. This is precisely why the Conservative reveres the Constitution and insists on adherence to it.

  Mark Levin

  Government, Doe, Adherence

  Mark R. Levin (2009). “Liberty and Tyranny: A Conservative Manifesto”, p.19, Simon and Schuster

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• The road to tyranny, we must never forget, begins with the destruction of the truth.

  William J. Clinton

  Freedom, Presidential, Liberty

  Clinton, William J. (1996). “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: William J. Clinton, 1995”, p.1594, Best Books on

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• Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience. Our problem is that people all over the world have obeyed the dictates of leaders…and millions have been killed because of this obedience…Our problem is that people are obedient allover the world in the face of poverty and starvation and stupidity, and war, and cruelty. Our problem is that people are obedient while the jails are full of petty thieves… (and) the grand thieves are running the country. That’s our problem.

  Howard Zinn

  Inspirational, Death, Running

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• If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they do not want to hear.

  George Orwell

  Inspirational, Life, Freedom

  "The Freedom of the Press" (1945)

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• The Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intentions

  Daniel Webster

  Freedom, Gun, Libertarian Party

  Daniel Webster, James Rees (1839). “The beauties of the Hon. Daniel Webster: selected and arranged, with a critical essay on his genius and writings”, p.30

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• Of all human ills, greatest is fortune's wayward tyranny.

  Sophocles

  Fortune, Humans

  Aeschylus, Sophocles, Eurípides, Aristophanes, Menander (of Athens.) (1938). “The complete Greek drama: all the extant tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, and the comedies of Aristophanes and Menander, in a variety of translations”

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  The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.

  Edmund Burke

  Inspirational, Wisdom, Witty

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• A good deal of tyranny goes by the name of protection.

  Crystal Eastman

  Names, Tyrants, Protection

  Crystal Eastman (1978). “Crystal Eastman on Women and Revolution”, Oxford University Press, USA

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• There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him.

  Robert A. Heinlein

  Men, Thinking, Political

  "The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress". Novel by Robert A. Heinlein, 1966.

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• The tyranny of some is possible only through the cowardice of others.

  Jose Rizal

  Noli Me Tangere, Cowardice

  Letter to the Young Women of Malolos (translated from Tagalog by Gregorio Zaide), February 22, 1889.

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