Archive

Quotes

You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner.

—Aristophanes, c. 424 BC

The U.S. presidency is a Tudor monarchy plus telephones.

—Anthony Burgess, 1972

A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.

—Martin Luther King Jr., c. 1967

Natural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible rights, rhetorical nonsense—nonsense upon stilts.

—Jeremy Bentham, c. 1832

There is nothing more tyrannical than a strong popular feeling among a democratic people.

—Anthony Trollope, 1862

I am invariably of the politics of the people at whose table I sit, or beneath whose roof I sleep.

—George Borrow, 1843

I shall be an autocrat: that’s my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that’s his.

—Catherine the Great, c. 1796

The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.

—Laozi

A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.

—George Bernard Shaw, 1944

An appeal to the reason of the people has never been known to fail in the long run.

—James Russell Lowell, c. 1865

If you must take care that your opinions do not differ in the least from those of the person with whom you are talking, you might just as well be alone.

—Yoshida Kenko, c. 1330

All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy.

—Al Smith, 1933

You should never have your best trousers on when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.

—Henrik Ibsen, 1882