The most hateful torment for men is to have knowledge of everything but power over nothing.
—Herodotus, c. 425 BCQuotes
To be turned from one’s course by men’s opinions, by blame, and by misrepresentation shows a man unfit to hold office.
—Quintus Fabius Maximus, c. 203 BCIf 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. 1330The more corrupt the republic, the more numerous the laws.
—Tacitus, c. 117I’m president of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli!
—George H. W. Bush, 1990Every communist must grasp the truth: “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”
—Mao Zedong, 1938I work for a government I despise for ends I think criminal.
—John Maynard Keynes, 1917Television has made dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable.
—Shimon Peres, 1995The spirit of liberty is the spirit which is not too sure it is right.
—Judge Learned Hand, 1944Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
—Lord Acton, 1887There is no method by which men can be both free and equal.
—Walter Bagehot, 1863Politics is the art of the possible.
—Otto von Bismarck, 1867An appeal to the reason of the people has never been known to fail in the long run.
—James Russell Lowell, c. 1865