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tyranny quotes

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“Oh, God, the terrible tyranny of the majority.” Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
“And so tyranny naturally arises out of democracy, and the most aggravated form of tyranny and slavery out of the most extreme form of liberty?” Plato, The Republic
“The object of power is power.” George Orwell, 1984
“Tyranny, as I was saying, is monarchy exercising the rule of a master over the political society; oligarchy is when men of property have the government in their hands; democracy, the opposite, when the indigent, and not the men of property, are...” Aristotle, Politics
“To tyrannize for the country is to tyrannize over the country.” Rabindranath Tagore, The Home and the World
“Jealousy is a virtue of democracies which preserves them from tyrants.” Anatole France, Penguin Island
“If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face—for ever.” George Orwell, 1984
“Nothing was your own except the few cubic centimetres inside your skull.” George Orwell, 1984
“One should as a rule respect public opinion in so far as is necessary to avoid starvation and to keep out of prison, but anything that goes beyond this is voluntary submission to an unnecessary tyranny, and is likely to interfere with happiness...” Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness
“The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny.” Aesop, Aesop's Fables
“History has informed us that bodies of men, as well as individuals, are susceptible of the spirit of tyranny.” Thomas Jefferson, A Summary View of the Rights of British America
“Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are all embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate.” Bertrand Russell, Sceptical Essays
“O ye that love mankind! Ye that dare oppose, not only the tyranny, but the tyrant, stand forth! Every spot of the old world is overrun with oppression. Freedom hath been hunted round the globe. Asia, and Africa, have long expelled her—Europe...” Thomas Paine, Common Sense
“She wished him to owe his recovery to her alone—to her care, to her tireless devotion. That is the other side of selflessness: its tyranny.” Margaret Atwood, The Blind Assassin
“There is so 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, The Moon is a Harsh Mistress
“This work was strictly voluntary, but any animal who absented himself from it would have his rations reduced by half.” George Orwell, Animal Farm
“Men do not become tyrants in order that they may not suffer cold; and hence great is the honor bestowed, not on him who kills a thief, but on him who kills a tyrant.” Aristotle, Politics
“A State for one man is no State at all.” Sophocles, Antigone
“It is our belief that the state is the servant of the citizen and not his master.” John F. Kennedy, State of the Union Address
“If you don't want a man unhappy politically, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none. Let him forget there is such a thing as war.” Ray Bradbury, Fahrenheit 451
“Let us render the tyrant no aid; let us not hold the light by which he can trace the footprints of our flying brother.” Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
“religion, and not fear, has ever been the cause of the long-lived prosperity of an absolute government.” Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America
“Public opinion is always more tyrannical towards those who obviously fear it than towards those who feel indifferent to it.” Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness
“An absolute monarchy is one in which the sovereign does as he pleases so long as he pleases the assassins.” Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary
“The idea which tyrants find most useful is the idea of God” Stendhal, The Red and the Black

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democracy oppression freedom liberty state power government happiness God work religion future thought war politics light opinion history slavery care

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George Orwell (4)
Bertrand Russell (3)
Aristotle (2)
Ray Bradbury (2)
Plato (1)
Frederick Douglass (1)
Margaret Atwood (1)
John F. Kennedy (1)
Aesop (1)
Thomas Jefferson (1)
Alexis de Tocqueville (1)
Anatole France (1)
Ambrose Bierce (1)
Robert A. Heinlein (1)
Thomas Paine (1)
Sophocles (1)
Rabindranath Tagore (1)
Stendhal (1)

Related sources

1984 (3)
Fahrenheit 451 (2)
Politics (2)
The Conquest of Happiness (2)
State of the Union Address (1)
The Blind Assassin (1)
Democracy in America (1)
Animal Farm (1)
Antigone (1)
Common Sense (1)
The Republic (1)
Sceptical Essays (1)
The Home and the World (1)
A Summary View of the Rights of British America (1)
Aesop's Fables (1)
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (1)
The Red and the Black (1)
Penguin Island (1)
The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (1)
The Devil's Dictionary (1)