Archive

Quotes

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.

—Thomas Jefferson, 1787

The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.

—Laozi

He may be a patriot for Austria, but the question is whether he is a patriot for me.

—Emperor Francis Joseph, c. 1850

No 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, 1958

If 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. 1330

There is no method by which men can be both free and equal.

—Walter Bagehot, 1863

I work for a government I despise for ends I think criminal.

—John Maynard Keynes, 1917

Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.

—Ambrose Bierce, 1906

Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.

—John Wilkes Booth, 1865

I say violence is necessary. It is as American as cherry pie.

—H. Rap Brown, 1967

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

—Michel de Montaigne, 1580

Let him who desires peace prepare for war.

—Vegetius, c. 385

The U.S. presidency is a Tudor monarchy plus telephones.

—Anthony Burgess, 1972