The most hateful torment for men is to have knowledge of everything but power over nothing.
—Herodotus, c. 425 BCQuotes
An appeal to the reason of the people has never been known to fail in the long run.
—James Russell Lowell, c. 1865In politics, what begins in fear usually ends in folly.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1830There is nothing more tyrannical than a strong popular feeling among a democratic people.
—Anthony Trollope, 1862I am no courtesan, nor moderator, nor tribune, nor defender of the people: I am myself the people.
—Maximilien Robespierre, 1792The more corrupt the republic, the more numerous the laws.
—Tacitus, c. 117The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.
—Dean Acheson, 1970The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.
—H.L. Mencken, 1921A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.
—Martin Luther King Jr., c. 1967The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.
—LaoziI shall be an autocrat: that’s my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that’s his.
—Catherine the Great, c. 1796All the ills of democracy can be cured by more democracy.
—Al Smith, 1933A government which robs Peter to pay Paul can always count on the support of Paul.
—George Bernard Shaw, 1944