Mary Astell Quotes

The tyranny of some is possible only through the cowardice of others.

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

… the greatest tyrant in the world; the greatest terrorist in the world.

… the tools of despotism and corruption

The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny.

Any excuse will serve a tyrant.

All men would be tyrants if they could.

Power acquired by violence is only a usurpation, and lasts only as long as the force of him who commands prevails over that of those who obey.

The thing about Republicans is that they don't care so much about respect, but they love fear, at least in others.

The tyrant is only the slave turned inside out.

Those who fear men like laws.

We would rather be feared than respected.

Let people hate you so long as they fear you.

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

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

The tyrant is nothing but a slave turned inside out.

The more power there is, the more bondage, the more fear.

The tyrant claims freedom to kill freedom, and yet keep it for himself.

Secrecy is the freedom tyrants dream of.

I don't even like to talk about it. I hated being a number and not merely because I was a very small one. I let them bellow at me for just as long as it took me to find enough pluck to bellow back at them.

I don't know if, at the end of the day, how brave Saddam Hussein would be if he were stripped of his bodyguards and everything else.

Let tyrants shake their iron rod.

Power does not corrupt. Fear corrupts... perhaps the fear of a loss of power.

Fear is the foundation of most governments.

No tyrant, however evil, has yet lacked ready hands to execute his most abominable will. To read how eagerly men have rushed to serve the despot is the bitterest, the saddest matter of history; it is the saddest sight in our own day.