A mere sampling of quotes regarding the nature of man & governemnt:
"One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors."
Plato ~ Greek author & philosopher in Athens (427 BC - 347 BC)
"Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime."
Aristotle ~ Greek critic, philosopher, physicist, & zoologist (384 BC - 322 BC)
“Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword... when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar.”
"Nothing feeds upon itself as liberality does."
Niccolo Machiavelli ~ Italian dramatist, historian, & philosopher (1469 - 1527)
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."
Voltaire ~ French author, humanist, rationalist, & satirist (1694 - 1778)
"Democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts and murders itself. There was never a democracy that did not commit suicide."
John Adams ~ 2nd president of US (1735 - 1826)
"The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home."
James Madison ~ 4th president of US (1751 - 1836)
"The last capitalist we hang shall be the one who sold us the rope."
Karl Marx ~ Communist political philosopher (1818 - 1883)
"Workers of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your chains."
Karl Marx ~ Communist political philosopher (1818 - 1883)
"Insanity in individuals is something rare - but in groups, parties, nations and epochs, it is the rule."
Friedrich Nietzsche ~ German philosopher (1844 - 1900)
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you."
Friedrich Nietzsche ~ German philosopher (1844 - 1900)
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
Lord Acton ~ English historian (1834 -1902)
"Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president."
Theodore Roosevelt ~ 26th president of US (1858 - 1919)
"A lie told often enough becomes the truth."
Vladimir Lenin ~ Russian Communist politician & revolutionary (1870 - 1924)
“Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same
as it was in ancient Greek republics: Freedom for slave owners.”
Vladimir Lenin ~ Russian Communist politician &
revolutionary (1870 - 1924)
"In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved."
Franklin D. Roosevelt ~ 32nd president of US (1882 - 1945)
"What luck for rulers that men do not think."
Adolf Hitler ~ German Nazi dictator, orator, & politician (1889 - 1945)
"The great masses of the people... will more easily fall victims to a great lie than to a small one."
Adolf Hitler ~ German Nazi dictator, orator, & politician (1889 - 1945)
'I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent."
Mahatma Gandhi ~ Indian political and spiritual leader (1869 - 1948)
You're not to be so blind with patriotism that you can't face reality. Wrong is wrong, no matter who does it or says it.
Malcolm X ~ US black nationalist leader (1925 - 1965)
"I have no mercy or compassion in me for a society that will crush people, and then penalize them for not being able to stand up under the weight."
Malcolm X ~ US black nationalist leader (1925 - 1965)
"Ideas are far more powerful than guns. We don't allow our enemies to have guns, why should we allow them to have ideas?"
Joseph Stalin ~ Georgian Soviet politician (1879 - 1953)
"Half of the American people have never read a newspaper. Half never voted for President. One hopes it is the same half."
Gore Vidal ~ US author & dramatist (1925 - )
"Is it better that everyone has a voice and there is sheer chaos or is better that one man speaks for all and there is absolute order?"
Terrance Mullins ~ US professor & scholar (1976 - )
"Conspiracy theories are the easy answers for the weak-minded."
Unknown
