The more corrupt the republic, the more numerous the laws.
—Tacitus, c. 117Quotes
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, 1774Let him who desires peace prepare for war.
—Vegetius, c. 385Every communist must grasp the truth: “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”
—Mao Zedong, 1938It is a certain sign of a wise government and proceeding, when it can hold men’s hearts by hopes, when it cannot by satisfaction.
—Francis Bacon, 1625On the loftiest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own rump.
—Michel de Montaigne, 1580I say violence is necessary. It is as American as cherry pie.
—H. Rap Brown, 1967I am invariably of the politics of the people at whose table I sit, or beneath whose roof I sleep.
—George Borrow, 1843I shall be an autocrat: that’s my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that’s his.
—Catherine the Great, c. 1796Envy is the basis of democracy.
—Bertrand Russell, 1930Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.
—E.B. White, 1944Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.
—Laozi