Small tyrants, threatened by big,
sincerely believe
they love liberty. W H Auden
So long as the people do not care to exercise their freedom, those who wish to tyrannise will do so; for tyrants are active and ardent, and will devote themselves in the name of any number of gods, religious or otherwise, to put shackles on sleeping men. Voltaire
The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination. Voltaire
Withholding information is the essence of tyranny. Control of the flow of information is the tool of the dictatorship. Bruce Coville
Knowledge is power. Information is power. The secreting or hoarding of knowledge or information may be an act of tyranny camouflaged as humility. Robin Morgan
The road to tyranny, we must never forget, begins with the destruction of the truth. Bill Clinton, 1995
Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: the fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate. Bertrand Russell
Revolutions have never lightened the burden of tyranny: they have only shifted it to another shoulder. George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman
Kings will be tyrants from policy when subjects are rebels from principle. Edmund Burke
Bad laws are the worst sort of tyranny. Edmund Burke
The tyranny of a multitude is a multiplied tyranny. Edmund Burke
The man of ease, who, by his warm fireside,
To deeds of charitable intercourse
And bare fulfilment of the common laws
Of decency and prejudice, confines
The struggling nature of his human heart,
Is duped by their cold sophistry; he sheds
A passing tear purchance upon the wreck
Of earthly peace, when near his dwelling’s door
The frightful waves are driven – when his son
Is murdered by the tyrant, or religion
Drives his wife raving mad. But the poor man,
Whose life is misery, and fear and care;
Whom the morn wakens but to fruitless toil
Who ever hears his famished offspring scream;
Whom their pale mother’s uncomplaining gaze
For ever meets, anti the proud rich man’s eye
Flashing command, and the heartbreaking scene
Of thousands like himself: – he little heeds
The rhetoric of tyranny. His hate
Is quenchless as his wrongs: he laughs to scorn
The vain and bitter mockery of words,
Feeling the horror of the tyrant’s deeds,
And unrestrained but by the arm of power,
That knows and dreads his enmity. Percy Bysshe Shelley, Queen Mab
Tyranny entrenches itself within the existing interests of the most refined citizens of a nation and says, ‘If you dare trample upon these, be free.’ Percy Bysshe Shelley, A Philosophical View of Reform
All over the world people are struggling against tyranny. How to Start a Revolution, 2011
There is nothing more tyrannical than a strong popular feeling among a democratic people. Anthony Trollope, North America, 1862
A democracy which makes or even effectively prepares for modern, scientific war must necessarily cease to be democratic. No country can be really well prepared for modern war unless it is governed by a tyrant, at the head of a highly trained and perfectly obedient bureaucracy. Aldous Huxley
When any government, or any church for that matter, undertakes to say to its subjects, This you may not read, this you must not see, this you are forbidden to know, the end result is tyranny and oppression no matter how holy the motives. Robert A Heinlein
The twentieth century may tell us that we have nothing to be complacent about in the recent history of humankind; but it also tells us that there is nothing inevitable about tyranny. Rowan Williams
I never knew what a tyrant was, or how I’d become one. The Grass Arena 1991 ***** starring Peter Postlethwaite & Mark Rylance & Lynsey Baxter & Marian McLoughlin & Andrew Dicks & Billy Boyle & Nick Dawney & Simon Napper & John Garrett & Brian Hall & Gerard Horan et al, director Gillies MacKinnon
Treachery is noble when aimed at tyranny. Pierre Corneille
A woman who gives any advantage to a man may expect a lover but will sooner or later find a tyrant. Lord Byron
If we must have a tyrant, let him at least be a gentleman who has been bred to the business, and let us fall by the axe and not by the butcher’s cleaver. Lord Byron
Think’st thou there is no tyranny but that
Of blood and chains? The despotism of vice –
The weakness and the wickedness of luxury –
The negligence – the apathy – the evils
Of sensual sloth – produce ten thousand tyrants,
Whose delegated cruelty surpasses
The worst acts of one energetic master,
However harsh and hard in his own bearing. Lord Byron, Sardanapalus I ii
Tyranny
Is far the worst of treasons. Dost thou deem
None rebels except subjects? The prince who
Neglects or violates his trust is more
A brigand than the robber-chief. Lord Byron, The Two Foscari II i
The means of defense against foreign danger historically have become the instruments of tyranny at home. James Madison
The majority have always supported the dictator ... There is no common ground with tyranny. Jordan Maxwell, interview Alex Jones 29th November 2005
Any excuse will serve a tyrant. Aesop
In the new code of laws which I suppose it will be necessary for you to make I desire you would remember the ladies, and be more generous and favourable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the husbands. Remember all men would be tyrants if they could. Abigail Adams, 1744 - 1818, wife of John Adams, mother of John Quincy Adams
The courageous men who used the law to challenge tyranny. The Strange Case of the Law II: The Story of English Justice: The Pursuit of Liberty BBC 2012
The tyrant dies and his rule is over, the martyr dies and his rule begins. Soren Kierkegaard
Secrets, silent, stony sit in the dark palaces of both our hearts: secrets weary of their tyranny: tyrants willing to be dethroned. James Joyce
A tyrant must put on the appearance of uncommon devotion. Aristotle
No tyrant need fear till men begin to feel confident in each other. Aristotle
And wonder gently that man’s face can fold
In pleasing smiles such murderous tyranny. William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus II iii 268, Tamora to Saturnius
O! It is excellent
To have a giant’s strength, but it is tyrannous
To use it like a giant. William Shakespeare, Measure For Measure II ii 107
This tyrant, whose sole name blisters our tongues,
Was once thought honest. William Shakespeare, Macbeth IV iii 12
Thou tyrant, tyrant Jealousy,
Thou tyrant of the mind! John Dryden, 1631-1700, Love Triumphant