Herbert Spencer Quotes

Governments arise either out of the people or over the people.

In no form of government is there an absolute identity of interest between the people and their rulers

Who so taketh in hand to frame any state or government ought to presuppose that all men are evil, and at occasions will show themselves so to be.

What is this thing we call government? Is it anything but organized violence? The law orders you to obey, and if you don't obey, it will compel you by force - all governments, all law and authority finally rest on force and violence, on punishment or fear of punishment.

Some writers have so confounded society with government, as to leave little or no distinction between them; whereas they are not only different, but have different origins ... Society is in every state a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.

In this world a man must either be anvil or hammer.

Violence is man re-creating himself.

Kings will be tyrants from policy, when subjects are rebels from principle.

As Governor of my country, I have been an enemy to its enemies; I have slain the English; I have mortally opposed the English King; I have stormed and taken the towns and castles which he unjustly claimed as his own.

Shakespeare reveals human nature brilliantly: he shines a light on our instinctive desire to dominate each other.

A political theory seeks to find from history the limits of the politically possible.

What is government itself but the great reflection of human nature.

As sons obey their father and wives obey their husbands, so should citizens obey their rulers.

But what is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external controls nor internal controls on government would be necessary.

The struggle between Liberty and Authority is the most conspicuous feature in the portions of history with which we are earliest familiar.

Policy is not made with papers or ceremonies. Policy is made with iron and blood.

Between the people and their enemies there can be nothing in common but the sword; we must govern by iron those who cannot be governed by justice; we must oppress the tyrant...

The silence of peoples is something kings should study.

Every organism, every human being, must conquer or serve.

War and unrest appeal to me more than good bourgeois order. Brutality is respected, the people need wholesome fear. They want to fear someone. They want someone to frighten them and make them shudderingly submissive.

All histories do shew, and wise politicians do hold it necessary that, for the well-governing of every Commonweal, it behoveth man to presuppose that all men are evil, and will declare themselves so to be when occasion is offered.

Government is a necessary evil

Man is not by nature a tyrant, but becomes a tyrant by power conferred on him.

Does it seem to you impossible to imagine anything more inextricable than the social contract, when you think of the frightful number of relations that it must regulate -- something like squaring the circle, or finding perpetual motion? That is the reason why, wearied of the struggle, you fall back on absolutism and force.

War and Authority are companions; Peace and Liberty are companions.