Raymond Aron Quotes

Oppressive government is more terrible than tigers.

Europeans have sometimes been beguiled by a despotism that comes concealed in the seductive form of an ideal – as it did in the cases of Hitler and Stalin. This fact may remind us that the possibility of despotism is remote neither in space nor in time.

The revolutionary government is the despotism of liberty

Despotism sits nowhere so secure as under the effigy and ensigns of freedom.

A collective tyrant, spread over the length and breadth of the land, is no more acceptable than a single tyrant ensconced on his throne.

Every one of the world's dictatorships can and does claim to be acting in the name of the people.

Every tyrant who has lived has believed in freedom for himself.

I have no desire to go in for tyranny or to play the part of King Charles. I hate tyranny in any field of human activity.

A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.

... a step in the direction of tyranny.

An oppressive government is worse than a man-eating tiger.

Fear must rule in a despotism.

A democratic despotism is like a theocracy: it assumes its own correctness.

If you took the most ardent revolutionary, vested him in absolute power, within a year he would be worse than the Tsar himself.

Dictators can always consolidate their tyranny by an appeal to patriotism.

Audacity is the currency for authoritarians.

Despotism is unjust to everybody, including the despot, who was probably made for better things.

It can't happen here is always wrong: a dictatorship can happen anywhere.

The fact is that certain themes cannot be celebrated in words, and tyranny is one of them. No one ever wrote a good book in praise of the Inquisition.

A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about it.

An oppressive government is more to be feared than a tiger.

Enlightened despots are mythical creatures; real despots seem more interested in stealing money or installing their sons after them.

Military dictatorship, you can focus on it, you can fight it directly. It's a band of power-driven people.

Tyranny is always better organized than freedom.