To 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 BCQuotes
The Revolution is made by man, but man must forge his revolutionary spirit from day to day.
—Che Guevara, 1968The 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, 1921Sic semper tyrannis! The South is avenged.
—John Wilkes Booth, 1865You should never have your best trousers on when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.
—Henrik Ibsen, 1882Out of the crooked timber of humanity no straight thing was ever made.
—Immanuel Kant, 1784The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.
—Dean Acheson, 1970It 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, 1625Whether for good or evil, it is sadly inevitable that all political leadership requires the artifices of theatrical illusion. In the politics of a democracy, the shortest distance between two points is often a crooked line.
—Arthur Miller, 2001The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all.
—G.K. Chesterton, 1908The U.S. presidency is a Tudor monarchy plus telephones.
—Anthony Burgess, 1972There is nothing more tyrannical than a strong popular feeling among a democratic people.
—Anthony Trollope, 1862I work for a government I despise for ends I think criminal.
—John Maynard Keynes, 1917