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Quotes

The affairs of the world are no more than so much trickery, and a man who toils for money or honor or whatever else in deference to the wishes of others, rather than because his own desire or needs lead him to do so, will always be a fool.

—Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1774

The more corrupt the republic, the more numerous the laws.

—Tacitus, c. 117

On the loftiest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own rump.

—Michel de Montaigne, 1580

Why has the government been instituted at all? Because the passions of men will not conform to the dictates of reason and justice without constraint.

—Alexander Hamilton, 1787

My people and I have come to an agreement that satisfies us both. They are to say what they please, and I am to do what I please.

—Frederick the Great, c. 1770

It is impossible to tell which of the two dispositions we find in men is more harmful in a republic, that which seeks to maintain an established position or that which has none but seeks to acquire it.

—Niccolò Machiavelli, c. 1515

The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.

—Dean Acheson, 1970

Every country has the government it deserves.

—Joseph de Maistre, 1811

I am no courtesan, nor moderator, nor tribune, nor defender of the people: I am myself the people.

—Maximilien Robespierre, 1792

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

—Catherine the Great, c. 1796

Television has made dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable.

—Shimon Peres, 1995

The Revolution is made by man, but man must forge his revolutionary spirit from day to day.

—Che Guevara, 1968

Treaties, you see, are like girls and roses: they last while they last.

—Charles de Gaulle, 1963