Marjane Satrapi Quotes

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

You agreed with the Dear Leader or you died or ended up in Camp 913.

History tells you if dictators are not stopped in time, they cause more damage.

Fear must rule in a despotism.

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

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.

Whatever crushes individuality is despotism, by whatever name it may be called and whether it professes to be enforcing the will of God or the injunctions of men.

The strength and power of despotism consists wholly in the fear of resistance.

When it comes to tyrants, dictators and terrorists, strength and the threat of force is the only language they understand.

.. jack-booted government thugs.

We have tended to be comfortable with authoritarian regimes.

President Maliki: The appetite has grown with the eating. He has become a real dictator.

A dictatorship breeds distrust.

Have you any idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress?

To build a country, [Joseph] Stalin was obliged to use force and kill. Mao Tse-tung was obliged to use force and kill. To mention only two recent cases, without raking over the whole history of the world.

The one means that wins the easiest victory over reason is terror and force.

An autocratic system of coercion, in my opinion, soon degenerates. For force always attracts men of low morality, and I believe it to be an invariable rule that tyrants of genius are succeeded by scoundrels. For this reason I have always been passionately opposed to systems such as we see in Italy and Russia to-day.

When fanatics are on top there is no limit to oppression.

You use force, you create fear. Fear destroys trust. Trust is the basis of harmony. The hardliner believes harmony and unity can be brought by force. That's totally unscientific, totally wrong.

In a society like this there is no negotiation, no discussion, except to tell you that power can crush you any time they want — not only you, your whole family and all people like you.

Despotism increases in severity with the number of despots; the responsibility is more divided, and the claims are more numerous.

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

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

Despotism is a long crime.

Force is the vital principle and immediate parent of despotism.