Do that which consists in taking no action, and order will prevail.
—Laozi, c. 500 BCQuotes
It 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, 1625People revere the Constitution yet know so little about it—and that goes for some of my fellow senators.
—Robert Byrd, 2005No free man shall be taken or imprisoned or dispossessed or outlawed or exiled, or in any way destroyed, nor will we go upon him, nor will we send against him except by the lawful judgment of his peers or by the law of the land.
—Magna Carta, 1215Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half of the time.
—E.B. White, 1944In politics, what begins in fear usually ends in folly.
—Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1830A riot is at bottom the language of the unheard.
—Martin Luther King Jr., c. 1967Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.
—Immanuel Kant, 1784Politics, n. A strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles. The conduct of public affairs for private advantage.
—Ambrose Bierce, 1906You have all the characteristics of a popular politician: a horrible voice, bad breeding, and a vulgar manner.
—Aristophanes, c. 424 BCTo 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 BCAn appeal to the reason of the people has never been known to fail in the long run.
—James Russell Lowell, c. 1865Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
—Lord Acton, 1887