The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.
—LaoziQuotes
I am no courtesan, nor moderator, nor tribune, nor defender of the people: I am myself the people.
—Maximilien Robespierre, 1792An appeal to the reason of the people has never been known to fail in the long run.
—James Russell Lowell, c. 1865The vice presidency isn’t worth a pitcher of warm piss.
—John Nance Garner, c. 1967No 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, 1958Treaties, you see, are like girls and roses: they last while they last.
—Charles de Gaulle, 1963Let him who desires peace prepare for war.
—Vegetius, c. 385There is nothing more tyrannical than a strong popular feeling among a democratic people.
—Anthony Trollope, 1862The most hateful torment for men is to have knowledge of everything but power over nothing.
—Herodotus, c. 425 BCEnvy 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, 1944I say violence is necessary. It is as American as cherry pie.
—H. Rap Brown, 1967A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.
—Martin Luther King Jr., c. 1967