Samuel Johnson Quotes

Whoever lays his hand on me to govern me is a usurper and tyrant, and I declare him my enemy.

The justification of majority rule in politics is not to be found in its ethical superiority.

Hume's paradox does hold: power is in the hands of the governed. If they refuse to accept it, you're in trouble, no matter how many guns you have.

Rebellion cannot exist without the feeling that somewhere, in some way, you are justified.

Common tyrants, and public oppressors, are not intitled to obedience from their subjects, by virtue of any thing here laid down by the inspired apostle.

Men seldom, or rather never for a length of time and deliberately, rebel against anything that does not deserve rebelling against.

Our relationship with presidents is often like that of a teenager and parent. He's our leader, but sometimes we rail against his decisions for us. We push back at times to make sure he knows who's boss.

The principle, on which the war was waged by the North, was simply this: That men may rightfully be compelled to submit to, and support, a government that they do not want; and that resistance, on their part, makes them traitors and criminals.

Does the end justify the means? That is possible. But what will justify the end? To that question, which historical thought leaves pending, rebellion replies: the means.

Nature rejects the monarch, not the man; the subject, not the citizen... The man of virtuous soul commands not, nor obeys.

We cannot distinguish truth from falsehood, right from wrong, or know what obedience we owe to the magistrate, or what we may justly expect from him, unless we know what he is, why he is, and by whom he is made to be what he is.... I cannot know how to obey unless I know in what, and to whom; nor in what unless I know what ought to be commanded; nor what ought to be commanded unless I understand the original right of the commander, which is the great arcanum.

Thou shalt not steal, except by majority vote.

Our rulers can have authority over such natural rights only as we have submitted to them.

I don't want power. I just object to idiots having power over me.

Lawful and settled authority is very seldom resisted when it is well employed.

Kill if you will, but command me nothing!

You’re loitering, citizen.” “Actually, I was hesitating.

There is no power without justice.

Policy sits above conscience.

It is easy to rule over the good.

Fear is a strange soil. It grows obedience like corn, which grow in straight lines to make weeding easier. But sometimes it grows the potatoes of defiance, which flourish underground.

All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government, when its tyranny or its inefficiency are great and unendurable.

When one man says, “No, I won’t,” Rome begins to fear.

But remember, this power of the people on top depends on the obedience of the people below. When people stop obeying, they have no power.

I am not blaming those who are resolved to rule, only those who show an even greater readiness to submit.