He may be a patriot for Austria, but the question is whether he is a patriot for me.
—Emperor Francis Joseph, c. 1850Quotes
I shall be an autocrat: that’s my trade. And the good Lord will forgive me: that’s his.
—Catherine the Great, c. 1796The most hateful torment for men is to have knowledge of everything but power over nothing.
—Herodotus, c. 425 BCWritten 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 BCDo that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.
—Laozi, c. 500 BCEvery communist must grasp the truth: “Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”
—Mao Zedong, 1938There is no method by which men can be both free and equal.
—Walter Bagehot, 1863To be turned from one’s course by men’s opinions, by blame, and by misrepresentation shows a man unfit to hold office.
—Quintus Fabius Maximus, c. 203 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. 1330The vice presidency isn’t worth a pitcher of warm piss.
—John Nance Garner, c. 1967The best of all rulers is but a shadowy presence to his subjects.
—LaoziThe 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, 1921Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.
—Immanuel Kant, 1784