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Algernon Sidney

Algernon Sidney Quotes

English Politician

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Famous Algernon Sidney Quotes

“We cannot distinguish truth from falsehood, right from wrong, or know what obedience we owe to the magistrate, or what we may justly expect from him, unless we know what he is, why he is, and by whom he is made to be what he is.... I cannot know how to obey unless I know in what, and to whom; nor in what unless I know what ought to be commanded; nor what ought to be commanded unless I understand the original right of the commander, which is the great arcanum.”

KnowsMayMadeKnow HowOughtOriginalsObedienceFalsehoodCommandersMagistrates
Author:Algernon Sidney
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“Fruits are always of the same nature with the seeds and roots from which they come, and trees are known by the fruits they bear: as a man begets a man, and a beast a beast, that society of men which constitutes a government upon the foundation of justice, virtue, and the common good, will always have men to promote those ends; and that which intends the advancement of one man's desire and vanity, will abound in those that will foment them.”

MenEndsGovernmentDesireJusticeCommonKnownLibertyVirtueTreeBearsRootsFoundationFruitSeedsVanityBeastOne ManAdvancementGood WillBegetsCommon Good
Book:Life, Memoirs,&c. of Algernon Sydney
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“Machiavel, discoursing on these matters, finds virtue to be so essentially necessary to the establishment and preservation of liberty, that he thinks it impossible for a corrupted people to set up a good government, or for a tyranny to be introduced if they be virtuous; and makes this conclusion, 'That where the matter (that is, the body of the people) is not corrupted, tumults and disorders do not hurt; and where it is corrupted, good laws do no good:' which being confirmed by reason and experience, I think no wise man has ever contradicted him.”

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Book:Discourses on Government
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“Nay, all laws must fall, human societies that subsist by them be dissolved, and all innocent persons be exposed to the violence of the most wicked, if men might not justly defend themselves against injustice by their own natural right, when the ways prescribed by publick authority cannot be taken.”

IfsMenWayHumansPersonsMightLawFallNaturalTakenViolenceSocietyAuthorityInjusticeInnocentWickedExposedHuman SocietyInnocent Person
Book:Discourses on Government
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“There may be a hundred thousand men in an army, who are all equally free; but they only are naturally most fit to be commanders or leaders, who most excel in the virtues required for the right performance of those offices.”

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Book:Discourses Concerning Gouernment. By Algernon Sidney, Esq; to which are Added, Memories of His Life, and an Apology for Himself ..
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