Quotessence
Home / Quotes / Quote by Polybius

Quote by Polybius

“Monarchy degenerates into tyranny, aristocracy into oligarchy, and democracy into savage violence and chaos.”

Quote by Polybius

Author

Polybius
Polybius

Polybius, born in 203 BC and died in 120 BC, was a Greek politician and historian. He is renowned for his studies on political systems and detailed records of historical events. Polybius was born in Megara and studied under the famous politician Lysias. In politics, he held important positions in Sparta and served as an ambassador to Rome. His most famous work is the 'Histories', which provides a detailed account of the Greek and Roman wars from 264 BC to 146 BC, and has had a profound impact on historical research. He also proposed the theory of mixed government, which suggests that it is the best form of government. more

You May Also Like

“When a legislature decides to steal some of our rights and plans to use police force to accomplish it, what's the real difference between them and the thief? Darn little! They hide behind the excuse that they're legislating democratically. The fact they do it by a majority vote has no moral significance whatsoever. Numerical might does not constitute right, no more than a lynch mob can justify its act because a majority participated.”

“The average age of the world's great civilizations has been two hundred years. These nations have progressed through the following sequence: from bondage to spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependency, from dependency back to bondage.”

“Whatever the price of the Chinese Revolution, it has obviously succeeded not only in producing more efficient and dedicated administration, but also in fostering high morale and community of purpose. The social experiment in China under Chairman Mao's leadership is one of the most important and successful in human history.”

“World dictatorship can be established only when the victory of socialism has been achieved in certain countries or groups of countries ... [and] when these federation of republics have finally grown into a world union of Soviet Socialist Republics uniting the whole of mankind under the hegemony of the international proletariat organized as a state.”