Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.
—Immanuel Kant, 1784Quotes
The more corrupt the republic, the more numerous the laws.
—Tacitus, c. 117Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.
—Laozi, c. 500 BCNatural rights is simple nonsense: natural and imprescriptible rights, rhetorical nonsense—nonsense upon stilts.
—Jeremy Bentham, c. 1832The 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, 1921O citizens, first acquire wealth; you can practice virtue afterward.
—Horace, c. 8 BCI say violence is necessary. It is as American as cherry pie.
—H. Rap Brown, 1967There is nothing more tyrannical than a strong popular feeling among a democratic people.
—Anthony Trollope, 1862Let him who desires peace prepare for war.
—Vegetius, c. 385The U.S. presidency is a Tudor monarchy plus telephones.
—Anthony Burgess, 1972Written laws are like spiderwebs: they will catch, it is true, the weak and poor but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful.
—Anacharsis, c. 550 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. 1330There is no method by which men can be both free and equal.
—Walter Bagehot, 1863