Alexandra Kollontai Quotes

the rule of Nobody ... is what the political form known as bureaucracy truly is.

Bureaucracy, the rule of no one, has become the modern form of despotism.

I micromanage the selection of the cabinet.

The person who manages the state is me.

No true and perfect human society can be conceived which is not governed by some supreme authority…. Do the sheep when they are all assembled together rule and guide the shepherd?

To rule is easy, to govern difficult.

It is a great matter to be in authority over others; for authority, if it be rightly used, will make you feared beyond your actual resources.

Power should be reserved for weightlifting and boats, and leadership really involves responsibility.

Politics is activity in relation to power.

Bureaucracy gives birth to itself and then expects maternity benefits.

For the bureaucrat, the world is a mere object to be manipulated by him.

My desire to devolve authority has nothing to do with a wish to shirk responsibility.

You have no power at all if you do not exercise constant power.

The essence of government is control, or the attempt to control.

I'm interested in power.

Tis a dainty thing to command, though twere but a flock of sheep.

England is… a country infested with people who love to tell us what to do, but who very rarely seem to know what’s going on.

The World is governed too much.

Headmasters have powers at their disposal which Prime Ministers have never yet been invested.

Certainly I shall not be one of those who, having gained power, do not wish to use it.

I was not a presider; I was a leader.

What is a government for except to dictate. If it does not dictate, then it is not a government.

The administrative process is, in essence, our generation’s answer to the inadequacy of the judicial and legislative processes. It represents our efforts to find an answer to those inadequacies by some other method than merely increasing executive power.

My relationship to power and authority is that I'm all for it...People need somebody to watch over them.... Ninety-five percent of the people in the world need to be told what to do and how to behave.

Politics is fate.