John James Ingalls Quotes

All governments must maintain power by consent. Not by coercion.

All governments must maintain power through consent, not coercion.

All political questions, all matters of right, are at bottom only questions of might.

There is no force greater than the state force.

When mankind first saw the necessity of government, it is probable that many had conceived the desire of ruling.

If physical power be the fountain of law, then law and force are synonymous terms. Or, perhaps, rather, law would be the result of a combination of will and force; of will, united with a physical power sufficient to compel obedience to it, but not necessarily having any moral character whatever.

There are two fairly standard approaches to political power used by those who seek it. Some seek power with the assumption that the citizenry are the source of legitimacy and are to be treated with respect. Others concentrate on identifying whatever insecurities there are within the citizenry and on exploiting them.'

Rulers come and go; governments end and forms of government change; but sovereignty survives.

The public power of all society is above every soul contained in the same society.

As force is always on the side of the governed, the governors have nothing to support them but opinion. It is therefore, on opinion only that government is founded; and this maxim extends to the most despotic and most military governments, as well as the most free and the most popular.

The more powerful the state, the more important it submit to widely held norms and consensual methods.

...a state is not the same thing as a society ... A state is an organization of power on a territorial basis.

The ordered organization of coercion we call the State.

Government is an association of men who do violence to the rest of us.

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.

Sovereignty and the right to rule cannot be conferred on anyone no matter who ... as a result of an academic discussion. Sovereignty is acquired by force and power and violence.

How long would authority ... exist, if not for the willingness of the mass to become soldiers, policemen, jailers, and hangmen.

Even the most despotic government cannot stand except for the consent of the governed.... Immediately the subject ceases to fear the despotic force, his power is gone.

The single definition of government I've ever seen that makes sense is that it's the organization which claims the right to kill people who won't do what it wants.

Force does not constitute right... obedience is due only to legitimate powers.

The state has physical power and uses it when necessary; the power of religion is love and beneficence.

Law is any application for the official use of coercion that succeeds.

I am the state.

If there is a State, then there is domination, and in turn, there is slavery.

The power which establishes a state is violence; the power which maintains it is violence; the power which eventually overthrows it is violence.