#despot

We always make the mistake in the United States of America in Democratic or Republican administrations alike is we tend to embrace the despot that's least troublesome to us. That should not be the way we view things. ↗

— Anthony Weiner

#always #america #democratic #despot #embrace

Is not liberty the destruction of all despotism - including, of course, legal despotism? ↗

— Frederic Bastiat

#despotism #destruction #including #legal #liberty

Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as a heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors. ↗

— Abraham Lincoln

#defense #despotism #destroy #doors #everywhere

A good constitution is infinitely better than the best despot. ↗

— Thomas B. Macaulay

#better #constitution #despot #good #infinitely

Man is insatiable for power; he is infantile in his desires and, always discontented with what he has, loves only what he has not. People complain of the despotism of princes; they ought to complain of the despotism of man. ↗

— Joseph de Maistre

#complain #desires #despotism #discontented #his

The strength and power of despotism consists wholly in the fear of resistance. ↗

— Thomas Paine

#despotism #fear #power #resistance #strength

Force is the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism. ↗

— Thomas Jefferson

#force #immediate #parent #principle #vital

The more complete the despotism, the more smoothly all things move on the surface. ↗

— Elizabeth Cady Stanton

#complete #despotism #more #move #move on

Despotism is the only form of government which may with safety to itself, neglect the education of its infant poor. ↗

— Samuel Horsley

#education #form #government #infant #itself

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