Masha Gessen Quotes

The more complete the despotism, the more smoothly all things move on the surface.

It's time to bury the unreal, failed 'realism' of those who have long thought that dictators brought stability.

Dictators are interesting, no?

Mobs and dictators were made for each other, and when mobs appear, dictators will soon flourish.

... the perfect dictatorship.

Dictatorship: A system of government where everything that isn't forbidden is obligatory.

Dictators are the last to know.

The more a regime claims to be the embodiment of liberty the more tyrannical it is likely to be.

One Hundred and Seventy Three Despots would surely be as oppressive as one.

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

Rule with an iron first will inevitably come to an end.

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

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

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

Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people.

Nondemocratic regimes imperil the security of the world. They stay in power by controlling their populations. This control invariably requires an increasing amount of repression. To justify this repression and maintain internal stability, external enemies must be manufactured.

Dictator, n. An evil man who maintains power by intimidation and force, refusing to obey the United States.

They (who) seek to establish systems of government based on the regimentation of all human beings by a handful of individual rulers … call this a new order. It is not new and it is not order.

I believe in benevolent dictatorships, provided I am the dictator.

Oppressive government is more terrible than tigers.

You can't be a dictator any more; anyone who tries to play the part of God will stumble.

The army and the government needs a dictator.

This is the only country in the world where a dictator will be allowed to sit among a democratically elected Congress. Everywhere else evil dictators go into exile.

The rule of several bad men does not last long, and easily decays to the rule of a single tyrant.

Whenever you have an efficient government you have a dictatorship.