Tyranny Quotes - Page 14

• The indifference of men, far more than their tyranny, is the torment of women.

  Jules Michelet

  Men, Indifference, Torment

  7 Copy quote

• it was the United States which first established general suffrage for men upon the two principles that 'taxation without representation is tyranny' and that governments to be just should 'derive their consent from the governed.' The unanswerable logic of these two principles is responsible for the extension of suffrage to men and women the world over. In the United States, however, women are still taxed without 'representation' and still live under a government to which they have given no 'consent.

  Carrie Chapman Catt

  Men, Two, Justice

  31 Copy quote

• Of all the tyrannies which have usurped power over humanity, few have been able to enslave the mind and body as imperiously as drug addiction.

  Freda Adler

  Addiction, Drug, Humanity

  8 Copy quote

• In more than half the nations of our world, torture certifies that the form of government is tyranny. Only tyranny, no matter how camouflaged, needs and employs torturers. Torture has no ideology.

  Martha Gellhorn

  Our World, Government, Needs

  Martha Gellhorn (1988). “The View from the Ground”, p.356, Atlantic Monthly Press

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Once you get a tyranny, you don't easily get rid of it. Much better to remember about eternal vigilance.

  Martha Gellhorn

  Remember, Vigilance, Eternal

  Martha Gellhorn (2015). “The View From The Ground”, p.332, Granta Books

  7 Copy quote

  Show source

• I said, 'George, if you really want to end tyranny in this world, you're going to have to stay up later.' Nine o'clock and Mr. Excitement here is sound asleep.

  Laura Bush

  Nine, Sound, World

  4 Copy quote

• most Americans are in deep awe of things-as-they-are. Even with everything this obviously out of control, they still tell themselves that those in authority must know what they are doing, and must be describing our condition to us as it really is; they still take it for granted that somehow what is, what is done, must make sense, can't really be insane. These assumptions exercise a tyranny over their minds.

  Barbara Deming

  Exercise, Mind, Insane

  4 Copy quote

• People who disagree with His Excellency, the President for Life and 'Chief of Chiefs,' are frequently found to be the victims of car crashes (their bodies mysteriously riddled with bullets); or dead in their beds of heart attacks (their bodies mysteriously riddled with bullets); or the recipients of some not-quite-fresh seafood (their bodies mysteriously riddled with bullets).

  Alexandra Fuller

  Heart, Car, People

  Alexandra Fuller (2002). “Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood”, p.215, Random House

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Fear has always been the driving force behind all dictators' repression.

  Marjane Satrapi

  Driving, Dictator, Force

  7 Copy quote

• In the larger sense, however, the personal ownership of firearms is only secondarily a matter of defense against the criminal. Note the following from Thomas Jefferson: The strongest reason for the people to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against the tyranny of government. That is why our masters in Washington are so anxious to disarm us. They are not afraid of criminals. They are afraid of a populace which cannot be subdued by tyrants.

  Jeff Cooper

  Gun, Government, Tyrants

  "Jeff Cooper's Commentaries", Vol. 2, No. 5, May 1994.

  40 Copy quote

  Show source

• Military despotism represses generous sentiments, priestly tyranny stifles them.

  Napoleon Bonaparte

  Military, Despotism, Sentiments

  4 Copy quote

• The goal of meditation is precisely to make your mind smooth and manageable so that it can be concentrated or relaxed at will; and especially to free it from the tyranny of mental afflictions and confusion

  Matthieu Ricard

  Goal, Confusion, Meditation

  Matthieu Ricard (2010). “The Art of Meditation”, p.35, Atlantic Books Ltd

  10 Copy quote

  Show source

• All the nations of the earth are crying out for liberty and equality. Away, away with tyranny and oppression!

  Maria W. Stewart

  Equality, Liberty, Earth

  Maria W. Stewart, Marilyn Richardson (1987). “Maria W. Stewart, America's First Black Woman Political Writer: Essays and Speeches”, p.9, Indiana University Press

  55 Copy quote

  Show source

• It is an illusion to suppose that a Dictator makes himself; at most he seizes an opportunity made for him by passive, stupid, incompetent, and above all, unsatisfied and fearful men.

  Susan Stebbing

  Stupid, Opportunity, Men

  6 Copy quote

• If the world knew how to use freedom without abusing it, tyranny would not exist.

  Tehyi Hsieh

  Liberty, Use, World

  4 Copy quote

• Desire is insatiable not because the goods of the world are too few, too uniform, or too bland. Desire burns through the goods of the world, even though these goods are not false or intrinsically unsatisfactory.... Desire shatters the economy of things; it disputes the tyranny of objects. IT longs for the great emptiness, which is beauty and love without limitation.

  Wendy Farley

  Beauty And Love, Desire, Uniforms

  Wendy Farley (2005). “The Wounding and Healing of Desire: Weaving Heaven and Earth”, p.13, Westminster John Knox Press

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• Unlike all other founders of a religious faith, Christ had no selfishness, no desire of dominance; and His system, unlike all other systems of worship, was bloodless, boundlessly beneficent, and--most marvelous of all--went to break all bonds of body and soul, and to cast down every temporal and every spiritual tyranny.

  Alfred William Howitt

  Spiritual, Religious, Soul

  "Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers". Book by Josiah Hotchkiss Gilbert, p. 60, 1895.

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• Power, when invested in the hands of knaves or fools, generally is the source of tyranny.

  Charlotte Charke

  Power, Hands, Fool

  Charlotte CHARKE (1826). “A Narrative of the Life of Mrs. Charlotte Charke, youngest daughter of Colley Cibber ... Written by herself. With a portrait”

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• While the Romans languished under the ignominious tyranny of eunuchs and bishops, the praises of Julian were repeated with transport in every part of the empire, except in the palace of Constantius.

  Edward Gibbon

  History, Bishops, Empires

  Edward Gibbon (2016). “THE HISTORY OF THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (All 6 Volumes): From the Height of the Roman Empire, the Age of Trajan and the Antonines - to the Fall of Byzantium; Including a Review of the Crusades, and the State of Rome during the Middle Ages”, p.988, e-artnow

  4 Copy quote

  Show source

• In the Laws it is maintained that the best constitution is made up of democracy and tyranny, which are either not constitutions at all, or are the worst of all. But they are nearer the truth who combine many forms; for the constitution is better which is made up of more numerous elements. The constitution proposed in the Laws has no element of monarchy at all; it is nothing but oligarchy and democracy, leaning rather to oligarchy.

  Aristotle

  Law, Government, Democracy

  Aristotle, Stephen Everson (1996). “Aristotle: The Politics and the Constitution of Athens”, p.42, Cambridge University Press

  8 Copy quote

  Show source

• The perversions are as follows: of royalty, tyranny; of aristocracy, oligarchy; of constitutional government, democracy.

  Aristotle

  Government, Democracy, Aristocracy

  Aristotle (2016). “Politics”, p.91, Aristotle

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• These, then, are the four kinds of royalty. First the monarchy of the heroic ages; this was exercised over voluntary subjects, but limited to certain functions; the king was a general and a judge, and had the control of religion The second is that of the barbarians, which is a hereditary despotic government in accordance with law. A third is the power of the so-called Aesynmete or Dictator; this is an elective tyranny. The fourth is the Lacedaemonian, which is in fact a generalship, hereditary and perpetual.

  Aristotle

  Kings, Government, Law

  Aristotle (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Aristotle (Illustrated)”, p.3028, Delphi Classics

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• Just as a royal rule, if not a mere name, must exist by virtue of some great personal superiority in the king, so tyranny, which is the worst of governments, is necessarily the farthest removed from a well-constituted form; oligarchy is little better, for it is a long way from aristocracy, and democracy is the most tolerable of the three.

  Aristotle

  Kings, Names, Government

  Aristotle (2013). “The Essential Aristotle”, p.299, Simon and Schuster

  6 Copy quote

  Show source

• Of old, the demagogue was also a general, and then democracies changed into tyrannies. Most of the ancient tyrants were originally demagogues. They are not so now, but they were then; and the reason is that they were generals and not orators, for oratory had not yet come into fashion.

  Aristotle

  Fashion, Tyrants, Government

  Aristotle, (2014). “Complete Works of Aristotle, Volume 2: The Revised Oxford Translation”, p.2072, Princeton University Press

  12 Copy quote

  Show source

• Resisting tyranny is obeying God

  Thomas Jefferson

  Obeying God, Obeying, Resisting

  4 Copy quote