August Friedrich Kellner Quotes

Oppressive government is more terrible than tigers.

Emperor Napoleon is nothing but an ordinary king who tramples on human rights.

One Hundred and Seventy Three Despots would surely be as oppressive as one.

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

The political lives of tyrants play out human affairs with a special intensity: the death of a democratic leader long after his retirement is a private matter, but the death of a tyrant is always a political act that reflects the character of his power.

Fear has always been the driving force behind all dictators' repression.

If you took the most ardent revolutionary, vested him in absolute power, within a year he would be worse than the Tsar himself.

The most popular man under a democracy is not the most democratic man, but the most despotic man. The common folk delight in the exactions of such a man. They like him to boss them. Their natural gait is the goose step.

Despotism is unjust to everybody, including the despot, who was probably made for better things.

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.

A dictatorship would be a heck of a lot easier, there's no question about it.

Nostalgia for dead tyrants and the longing for heroes are unhealthy, and they can result in the deification of a Saddam as easily as a Havel or Mandela.

Enlightened despots are mythical creatures; real despots seem more interested in stealing money or installing their sons after them.

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

Every tyrant who has lived has believed in freedom for himself.

To assume all the powers is not good for anybody. Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. All those experiments have a bad ending.

Excessive dealings with tyrants are not good for the security of free states.

This and no other is the root from which a tyrant springs; when he first appears he is a protector.

Concentrated power is not rendered harmless by the good intentions of those who create it.

Despotism isn't nearly as bad as it's cracked up to be.

I've met quite a few dictators up close and personal in my life.

... the perfect dictatorship.

All executive power --- from the reign of ancient kings to the rule of modern dictators --- has the outward appearance of efficiency

Napoleon is a dangerous man in a free country. He seems tome to have the makings of a tyrant, and I believe that were he to be king he would be fully capable of playing such a part, and his name would become an object of detestation to posterity...

They (who) seek to establish systems of government based on the regimentation of all human beings by a handful of individual rulers … call this a new order. It is not new and it is not order.