Victor Margueritte Quotes

The enemies of freedom do not argue; they shout and they shoot.

Fascism is fascism. Terrorism is terrorism. Oppression is oppression.

When it comes to tyrants, dictators and terrorists, strength and the threat of force is the only language they understand.

When a dictatorship controls the political life of a country, responsible opposition cannot develop, and dissent is driven underground and toward the extreme. And to draw attention away from their social and economic failures, dictators place blame on other countries and other races, and stir the hatred that leads to violence. This status quo of despotism and anger cannot be ignored or appeased, kept in a box or bought off.

I conceived the most profound admiration for ...[Mussolini, who] ... would not deal with the internal enemies of Italy, but pushed their annihilation in every way and by all means.

One need only watch totalitarians at work to see that once men gain power over other men’s minds, that power is never used sparingly and wisely, but lavishly and brutally and with unspeakable results.

Military dictatorship is born from the power of the gun, and so it undermines the concept of the rule of law and gives birth to a culture of might, a culture of weapons, violence and intolerance.

A lasting order cannot be established by bayonets.

Fascism is not defined by the number of its victims, but by the way it kills them.

Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.

A fascist is one whose lust for money or power is combined with such an intensity of intolerance toward those of other races, parties, classes, religions, cultures, regions or nations as to make him ruthless in his use of deceit or violence to attain his ends.

This power, this authority, Soviet power: they killed everybody who could make any resistance, who could explain his own way of thinking and who could follow his own way of thinking, of believing.

History’s most important lesson is that it has not been possible to make coercion compatible with the truth.

.. jack-booted government thugs.

Our action will have to be very violent in order to crush a strong and well-organized enemy [the Republicans] as soon as possible. Hence, all leaders of political parties, societies or unions not pledged to our movement will be imprisoned. Such people will be administered exemplary punishment [usually shot] so that movements of rebellion or strikes will be strangles.

Between the people and their enemies there can be nothing in common but the sword; we must govern by iron those who cannot be governed by justice; we must oppress the tyrant...

The German is naturally a law-abiding man, and he had a glimpse into the abyss when Communism in Germany raised its head—and Communism was a creed of violence. It was beaten ultimately by another creed of violence and force [Nazism].

In a country where the sole employer is the State, opposition means death by slow starvation. The old principle: who does not work shall not eat, has been replaced by a new one: who does not obey shall not eat.

Individuals and classes which have lost the force to maintain themselves in power make themselves more and more hated because of their outbursts of random violence. The strong man strikes only when it is absolutely necessary, and then nothing stops him. Trajan was strong, not violent: Caligula was violent, not strong.

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

An extreme reflection of the dangers confronting modern social development is the growth of racism, nationalism, and militarism and, in particular, the rise of demagogic, hypocritical, and monstrously cruel dictatorial police regimes…. These tragic developments have always derived from the struggle of egotistical and group interests, the struggle for unlimited power, suppression of intellectual freedom, a spread of intellectually simplified, narrow-minded mass myths.

The art of power often involves brutality — and other offenses too.

If any person has a good word for the previous government that is good enough for me to have him shot.

Authoritarianism is the principle determinant of intollerance.

We can never allow people who use nondemocratic means, people who use violence instead of arguments, people who use knives instead of debates, we can never allow them to set the agenda.