Envy is the basis of democracy.
—Bertrand Russell, 1930Quotes
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, 1787No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or dispossessed or outlawed or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him, nor will we send against him except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.
—Magna Carta, 1215The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.
—LaoziPolitics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.
—Paul Valéry, 1943The 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, 1887It 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. 1515No human life, not even the life of a hermit, is possible without a world which directly or indirectly testifies to the presence of other human beings.
—Hannah Arendt, 1958Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.
—John Wilkes Booth, 1865There is no method by which men can be both free and equal.
—Walter Bagehot, 1863The U.S. presidency is a Tudor monarchy plus telephones.
—Anthony Burgess, 1972Let him who desires peace prepare for war.
—Vegetius, c. 385