#despot

Religions are the cradles of despotism. ↗

— Marquis de Sade

#religions

There are three species of government: republican, monarchical, and despotic. ↗

— Charles de Secondat

#despotic #monarchical #republican #species #three

Despotism increases in severity with the number of despots; the responsibility is more divided, and the claims are more numerous. ↗

— William Wells Brown

#despotism #despots #divided #increases #more

The right-wing Tories and the conservative Whigs fought Napoleon as the Usurper and the Enemy of the Established Order; the liberal Tories and the radical Whigs fought him as the Betrayer of the Revolution and the Enslaver of Europe; they were all agreed in fighting him, and his notion that their disagreement signified national disunion was mere wishful thinking. All dictators since his time have fallen into the same trap: themselves blind to the values of liberty, they cannot conceive that people who disagree on its meaning can nevertheless unite in upholding their freedoms against patent despotism. ↗

— J. Christopher Herold

#liberty #napoleon #napoleonic-wars #tories #whigs

As a nation, we began by declaring that 'all men are created equal.' We now practically read it 'all men are created equal, except negroes.' When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read 'all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.' When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretense of loving liberty – to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocrisy. ↗

— Abraham Lincoln

#bigotry #despotism #equality #hypocrisy #know-nothings

I love my country, not my government. ↗

— Jesse Ventura

#bill-of-rights #constitution #despotism #freedom #government

If there were only one religion in England there would be danger of despotism, if there were two, they would cut each other's throats, but there are thirty, and they live in peace and happiness. ↗

— Voltaire

#religion #religion

Idealism is the despot of thought, just as politics is the despot of will. ↗

— Mikhail Bakunin

#idealism #just #politics #thought #will

Be assured, fellow citizens, that in a democracy it is the laws that guard the person of the citizen and the constitution of the state, whereas the despot and the oligarch find their protection in suspicion and in armed guards. ↗

— Aeschines

#assured #citizen #citizens #constitution #democracy

Neither a life of anarchy nor one beneath a despot should you praise; to all that lies in the middle a god has given excellence. ↗

— Aeschylus

#beneath #despot #excellence #given #god