Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
—Lord Acton, 1887Quotes
He may be a patriot for Austria, but the question is whether he is a patriot for me.
—Emperor Francis Joseph, c. 1850Let him who desires peace prepare for war.
—Vegetius, c. 385There is nothing more tyrannical than a strong popular feeling among a democratic people.
—Anthony Trollope, 1862Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906You should never have your best trousers on when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.
—Henrik Ibsen, 1882There is no method by which men can be both free and equal.
—Walter Bagehot, 1863Every communist must grasp the truth: “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”
—Mao Zedong, 1938The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all.
—G.K. Chesterton, 1908Treaties, you see, are like girls and roses: they last while they last.
—Charles de Gaulle, 1963Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.
—E.B. White, 1944I shall be an autocrat: that’s my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that’s his.
—Catherine the Great, c. 1796The vice presidency isn’t worth a pitcher of warm piss.
—John Nance Garner, c. 1967