Antonio Gramsci Quotes

At times it is necessary for a country to have, for a time, some form or other of dictatorial power..

Totalitarianism surpasses autocracy.

The fundamental article of my political creed is that despotism, or limited sovereignty, or absolute power is the same [whether] in a majority of a popular assembly; an aristocratic council; or oligarchical junto and a single emperor - equally arbitrary, cruel, bloody and in every respect diabolical.

Every State is a despotism, be the despot one or many.

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.

You can't become a dictator through checks and balances.

Despotism isn't nearly as bad as it's cracked up to be.

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

Extensive and organized power over large populations does not suffice to make a nation

The government assures the people that they are in danger from the invasion of another nation, or from foes in their midst, and that the only way to escape this danger is by the slavish obedience of the people to their government. This fact is seen most prominently during revolutions and dictatorships, but it exists always and everywhere that the power of the government exists.

The machine of repression can only be started, it can't be stopped - even by Putin.

The possession of unlimited power will make a despot of almost any man. There is a possible Nero in the gentlest human creature that walks.

Totalitarianism, if not fought against, could triumph anywhere.

That is one of the characteristics of fascism, the idea that the state can provide all of the answers for everyone.

The State acquires power... and because of its insatiable lust for power it is incapable of giving up any of it. The State never abdicates.

Tyranny is always better organized than 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.

To assume all the powers is not good for anybody. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. All those experiments have a bad ending.

Brutal men with unlimited power are the same all over the world.

A state is not a state if it belongs to one man.

Napoleon is a dangerous man in a free country. He seems tome to have the makings of a tyrant, and I believe that were he to be king he would be fully capable of playing such a part, and his name would become an object of detestation to posterity...

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.

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

The army and the government needs a dictator.