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Tyranny Quotes

Browse 1629 quotes about Tyranny.

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Tyranny Quotes

“The fundamental article of my political creed is that despotism, or limited sovereignty, or absolute power is the same [whether] in a majority of a popular assembly; an aristocratic council; or oligarchical junto and a single emperor - equally arbitrary, cruel, bloody and in every respect diabolical.”

PoliticalAbsolutesFundamentalsMajorityTyrannyArticlesCreedsBloodySovereigntyCouncilArbitraryEmperorAssemblyDespotismAbsolute PowerDiabolicalAristocratic
Author:John Adams
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“To subvert the tyranny of our execrable government, to break the connection with England, the never-failing source of all our political evils and to assert the independence of my country- these were my objectives. To unite the whole people of Ireland, to abolish the memory of all past dissensions, and to substitute the common name of Irishman in place of the denominations of Protestant, Catholic and Dissenter - these were my means.”

PeopleMeanCountryWholeGovernmentPastPoliticalEvilNamesMemoriesCommonBreakFailingSourceRepublicanConnectionsEnglandCatholicIndependenceTyrannyObjectivesSubstitutesIrelandProtestantsAbolishDenominationsIrishmenDissension
Book:Freedom the Wolfe Tone way
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“Good intentions will always be pleaded, for every assumption of power; but they cannot justify it ... It is hardly too strong to say, that the Constitution was made to guard the people against the dangers of good intention, real or pretended.”

PeopleMadeRealStrongLibertyDangerGunConstitutionIntentionLibertarianTyrannyAssumptionJustifyFreedom And LibertyGood IntentionsFreedom LibertyProperty RightsLimited GovernmentForefathersLimiting GovernmentRights And FreedomsPro GunLibertarian PartyPower And ControlUs ConstitutionAnti Gun
Book:The speeches of Daniel Webster and his master-pieces
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“The right of a nation to kill a tyrant, in cases of necessity, can no more be doubted, than to hang a robber, or kill a flea. But killing one tyrant only makes way for worse, unless the people have sense, spirit and honesty enough to establish and support a constitution guarded at all points against the tyranny of the one, the few, and the many.”

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Book:The Works of John Adams Vol. 6: Defence of the Constitution IV, Discourses on Davila
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“Tis a Mistake to think this Fault [tyranny] is proper only to Monarchies; other Forms of Government are liable to it, as well as that. For where-ever the Power that is put in any hands for the Government of the People, and the Preservation of their Properties, is applied to other ends, and made use of to impoverish, harass, or subdue them to the Arbitrary and Irregular Commands of those that have it: There it presently becomes Tyranny, whether those that thus use it are one or many.”

PeopleThinkingWellsMadeEndsUseHandsGovernmentFormMistakePropertyFaultsTyrannyCommandPreservationArbitraryMonarchyForms Of GovernmentProperty RightsLiable
Book:Locke: Two Treatises of Government Student Edition
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“If the innocent honest Man must quietly quit all he has for Peace sake, to him who will lay violent hands upon it, I desire it may be considered what kind of Peace there will be in the World, which consists only in Violence and Rapine; and which is to be maintained only for the benefit of Robbers and Oppressors.”

IfsMenWorldKindMayHandsDesireViolenceHonestBenefitsLaysSakeQuittingViolentTyrannyInnocentHonest ManOppressorsRobbers
Book:Two treatises of government
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“Think'st thou there is no tyranny but that Of blood and chains? The despotism of vice-- The weakness and the wickedness of luxury-- The negligence--the apathy--the evils Of sensual sloth--produces ten thousand tyrants, Whose delegated cruelty surpasses The worst acts of one energetic master, However harsh and hard in his own bearing.”

ThinkingHardEvilBloodWorstProduceMastersThousandTenWeaknessVicesTyrannyCrueltyChainsLuxurySensualTyrantsApathyHarshWickednessEnergeticDespotismSlothNegligence
Author:Lord Byron
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“Tacitus appears to have been as great an enthusiast as Petrarch for the revival of the republic and universal empire. He has exerted the vengeance of history upon the emperors, but has veiled the conspiracies against them, and the incorrigible corruption of the people which probably provoked their most atrocious cruelties. Tyranny can scarcely be practised upon a virtuous and wise people.”

PeopleHas BeensWiseUniversalCorruptionTyrannyCrueltyEmpiresRepublicConspiracyVirtuousVengeanceRevivalEmperorProvokedWise PeopleIncorrigible
Book:The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United States: With a Life of the Author, Notes and Illustrations
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“To confound the tyranny of man there should exist for a century a third sex, both male and female, and stronger than men. This new sex would prove with the lash that men as well as women are made for its pleasure; and then you would hear men protesting against the tyranny of the hermaphrodite sex and admitting that strength should not be the sole rule of right. Just why do they refuse to grant the women the independence which they would demand from the third sex?”

MenShouldWellsMadeSexPleasureCenturyDemandProveFemaleThirdsStrongerIndependenceMalesRefuseTyrannyGrantsSoleAdmittingLashesHermaphrodites
Author:Charles Fourier
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“To rail and rant against tyranny is to manifest inferiority, for there is no tyranny but ignorance; to be conscious of one's powers is to lose consciousness of tyranny. Self government is not a remote aim. It is an intimate and inescapable fact. To govern oneself is a natural imperative, and all tyranny is the miscarriage of self government. The first requisite of freedom is to accept responsibility for the lack of it.”

FirstsSelfFactsGovernmentLosesNaturalConsciousnessResponsibilityAcceptingIgnoranceConsciousAimOneselfTyrannyIntimateManifestImperativesInferiorityRailSelf-governmentRantMiscarriage
Author:E.C. Riegel
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“We do not war with races primarily as such. Tyranny is our foe. Whatever trapping or disguise it wears, whatever language it speaks, be it external or internal, we must for ever be on our guard, ever mobilized, ever vigilant, always ready to spring at its throat. In all this we march together. Not only do we march and strive shoulder to shoulder at this moment, under the fire of the enemy on the fields of war or in the air, but also in those realms of thought which are consecrated to the rights and the dignity of man.”

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Book:Churchill speaks: Winston S. Churchill in peace and war : collected speeches, 1897-1963
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“We have the power to defy the selfish genes of our birth and, if necessary, the selfish memes of our indoctrination. We can even discuss ways of deliberately cultivating and nurturing pure, disinterested altruism - something that has no place in nature, something that has never existed before in the whole history of the world. We are built as gene machines and cultured as meme machines, but we have the power to turn against our creators. We, alone on earth, can rebel against the tyranny of the selfish replicators.”

IfsWorldWayWholeEarthTurnsBirthPureBuiltMachinesCreatorSelfishTyrannyRebelGenesAltruismWorld HistoryNurturingIndoctrinationCultivatingDisinterestedMemesSelfish Gene
Author:Richard Dawkins
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“The genius of Christian spirituality is to integrate [the] spirit of possession with the spirit of dispossession. The spirit of dispossession implies that all the good and delightful things of this world are never allowed to own, possess, or shackle me. Dispossession implies that I am always free, my own person, liberated from the tyranny that possession can easily exercise over us.”

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Book:A Life-Giving Vision: How to Be a Christian in Today's World
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“We may well soon be subjected to anything that judges want to enforce.... The result will be an enforced inability of the states to pass laws that reflect the principled judgment of their own citizens....And as our Founders taught us so well, ...[that] will be the end of liberty and the establishment of tyranny in America.”

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Author:Alan Keyes
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“As a form of government, imperialism does not seek or require the consent of the governed. It is a pure form of tyranny. The American attempt to combine domestic democracy with such tyrannical control over foreigners is hopelessly contradictory and hypocritical. A country can be democratic or it can be imperialistic, but it cannot be both.”

DoeCountryGovernmentFormDemocracyPureDemocraticTyrannyConsentImperialismContradictoryForeignersForms Of GovernmentHypocriticalConsent Of The Governed
Book:Dismantling the Empire: America's Last Best Hope
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“But I am mistaken in speaking of a Christian republic; the terms are mutually exclusive. Christianity preaches only servitude and dependence. Its spirit is so favorable to tyranny that it always profits by such a regime. True Christians are made to be slaves, and they know it and do not much mind; this short life counts for too little in their eyes.”

KnowsMindLittlesMadeEyeChristianSpiritTermChristianitySlaveProfitTyrannyRepublicRegimesMistakenDependenceExclusiveServitudeShort LifeBe A Slave
Book:On the Social Contract
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