Seneca the Younger Quotes

To make laws that man cannot, and will not obey, serves to bring all law into contempt.

Justice is the first virtue of those who command, and stops the complaints of those who obey.

I don't even want to be president!

Ladies and gentlemen, even my own staff challenges me. When I issue edicts, commands, orders, ideas, you would think that there would be overwhelming blanket acquiescence, approval, and support.

There are so many people in the country who don't like me.

We do not support rebellion against our rulers even if they are unjust. We do not make supplications against them and do not set any revolution against them.

Stand not against the stream.

In every sort of politics, in history, it has its own problems, its leaders, its own opposition.

Laws that do not embody public opinion can never be enforced.

Hume's paradox does hold: power is in the hands of the governed. If they refuse to accept it, you're in trouble, no matter how many guns you have.

I am not blaming those who are resolved to rule, only those who show an even greater readiness to submit.

People are difficult to rule, because of their knowledge.

I am going to work with people who hold similar views to me inside Congress, outside of Congress to make certain that we come together to stop Trump from doing some of the very ugly things that he has talked about doing.

But remember, this power of the people on top depends on the obedience of the people below. When people stop obeying, they have no power.

We cannot change our rulers, but we can change the way they rule us.

When I've gotten criticism, it's that it's too long, too soft, didn't hit the government hard enough. Then when I do hit the government, they go, What's he doing hitting the government?

It occurs to me that for a long time she has been doing her own version of resisting.

Boycotts tend to make the shunned more popular.

They seem to have moved from total opposition to total subservience.

The ruling power is always faced with the question, ‘In such and such circumstances, what would you do?’, whereas the opposition is not obliged to take responsibility or make any real decisions.

I'll tell you one thing about me, and that is that I'm not to keen on being bossed around. If, say, my Mom tells me to empty the dishwasher, I like to wait a little bit, you know, not hop up and do it right away, because then it feels more like my own idea. That's a little problematic when you have an actual boss.

The dead-enders are still with us, those remnants of the defeated regimes who'll go on fighting long after their cause is lost.

I think you can judge the level of success for any group of people by the reaction against it.

I don't think everybody in Vermont loves me.

If people don't like you, it doesn't matter how much uniqueness, nerve or talent you have!