Shaw, George Bernard -- Man and Superman, “Maxims for...
Democracy substitutes election by the incompetent many for appointment by the corrupt few. George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) British playwright and criticMan and Superman, “Maxims for Revolutionists,”...
View ArticleLewis, C.S. -- “Lilies that Fester,” The Twentieth Century (Apr 1955)
Mr. Forster feels anxious because he dreads Theocracy. Now if he expects to see a Theocracy set up in modern England, I myself believe his expectation to be wholly chimerical. But I wish to make it...
View ArticleVoltaire -- Philosophical Dictionary, “Tyranny” (1764) [tr. Gay (1962)]
If I had to choose, I should detest the tyranny of one man less than that of many. A despot always has his good moments; an assembly of despots never. Voltaire (1694-1778) French writer [pseud. of...
View ArticleInge, William Ralph -- “Our Present Discontents,” Outspoken Essays: First...
History gives no countenance to the theory that popular governments are either more moral or more pacific than strong monarchies. William Ralph Inge (1860-1954) English prelate [Dean Inge]“Our Present...
View ArticleInge, William Ralph -- “Our Present Discontents,” Outspoken Essays: First...
If an autocracy does not rest on the army, which leads to the chaos of praetorianism, it must rely on ‘panem et circenses.’ Hence it has some of the worst faults of democracy, without its advantages....
View ArticleHeinlein, Robert A. -- Friday [Dr. Baldwin] (1982)
Another fine quotation from WIST - Wish I'd Said That! . A well run tyranny is almost as scarce as an efficient democracy.
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Ames, Fisher -- (Attributed)
Monarchy is like a sleek craft, it sails along well until some bumbling captain runs it into the rocks. Democracy, on the other hand, is like a raft. It never goes down but, dammit, your feet are...
View ArticleSophocles -- Antigone, l. 736 ff (441 BC) [tr. Storr (1859)]
CREON: Am I to rule for others, or myself? HAEMON: A State for one man is no State at all. CREON: The State is his who rules it, so ’tis held. HAEMON: As monarch of a desert thou wouldst shine. Κρέων:...
View ArticleTacitus -- Annals Book 1, ch. 2 [tr. Church & Brodribb (1876)]
When after the destruction of Brutus and Cassius there was no longer any army of the Commonwealth, when Pompeius was crushed in Sicily, and when, with Lepidus pushed aside and Antonius slain, even the...
View ArticleWest, Rebecca -- “The Necessity and Grandeur of the International Ideal” (1934)
It would seem … that man has been shocked by the war into forgetting how to be a political animal. This suspicion is confirmed by the spread of Fascism, which is a headlong flight into fantasy from the...
View ArticleBrecht, Bertholt -- The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui [Der Aufhaltsame...
If we could learn to look, instead of gawking, We’d see the horror in the heart of farce. If only we could act, instead of talking, We wouldn’t always end up on our arse. This is the thing that nearly...
View ArticleJefferson, Thomas -- Letter to Philip Mazzei (24 Apr 1796)
[T]imid men […] prefer the calm of despotism to the boisterous sea of liberty. Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) American political philosopher, polymath, statesman, US President (1801-09)Letter to Philip...
View ArticleParsons, Lucy -- “On Revolution in Russia and Chinese Use of the Boycott,”...
What has ever been granted to the countless millions of workers of Earth without a fight? Czar Nicholas has discovered that he is not all Russia. Will he “let the voice of the people be heard”? Was it...
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Eisenhower, Dwight David -- “An Open Letter to America’s Students,” Reader’s...
Never let yourself be persuaded that any one Great Man, any one leader, is necessary to the salvation of America. When America consists of one leader and 143,000,000 followers, it will no longer be...
View ArticleCarlyle, Thomas -- The French Revolution: A History, Part 1, Book 2, ch. 4...
France was long a “Despotism tempered by Epigrams.” Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historianThe French Revolution: A History, Part 1, Book 2, ch. 4 (1.2.4) (1837) Though given in...
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