Mikhail Bakunin Quotes

Each age must … contend anew with the question of power and accountability.

The public power of all society is above every soul contained in the same society.

The leader is supposed to represent the community, the public good. He's supposed to be the focal point and the guide and the inspiration, and to represent a concern for the public good. The trouble is, the tragic problem is, very often, when you are a leader and pursue the public good, it may be at the expense of your private interests in a very drastic way

Formerly government was the responsibility of people; now people were the responsibility of government.

The word power has such a generally negative implication in our society. What are people talking about? Are they talking about muscles, or control?

You must obey the law, always, not only when they grab you by your special place.

Power has to be insecure to be responsive.

But constant experience shows us that every man invested with power is apt to abuse it, and to carry his authority as far as it will go.

Governments need to have both shepherds and butchers.

Public service used to be the highest of callings, until people like Madame Voldemort vilified it.

By definition, a government has no conscience. Sometimes it has a policy, but nothing more.

Real politics are the possession and distribution of power.

Power is not just political. It can be cultural; it can be spiritual.

We kind of agree with Mao that political power comes largely from the barrel of a gun. And we get it that if you want a friend you should get a dog.

Wherefore for the public interest and benefit of human society it is requisite that the highest obligations possible should be laid upon the consciences of men.

All political power is a trust.

People in positions of power and privilege have a duty to perform at a higher level. If not them, then who?

Ambition characterizes and distinguishes national officeholders from other kinds of human beings.

My public life is before you; and I know you will believe me when I say, that when I sit down in solitude to the labours of my profession, the only questions I ask myself are, What is right? What is just? What is for the public good?

Power tends to protect itself merely to maintain its own status and control. Principle gives up power for the sake of creating the best public policy.

Politicians fascinate because they constitute such a paradox; they are an elite that accomplishes mediocrity for the public good.

In the long run, the public interest depends on private virtue.

There are two fairly standard approaches to political power used by those who seek it. Some seek power with the assumption that the citizenry are the source of legitimacy and are to be treated with respect. Others concentrate on identifying whatever insecurities there are within the citizenry and on exploiting them.'

I am not invested with dictatorial powers. If I were, I should be quite ready to dictate.

What is government itself but the great reflection of human nature.