Voltaire Quotes
The public is a ferocious beast: one must chain it up or flee from it.
Voltaire, 1694-1778, [Francois-Marie Arouet], French Historian & Dramatist Letter to Mademoiselle Quinault
Sourced by: Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations
He was concerned about the possible “tyranny of the majority.”
This paraphrased quote originated with Martin Luther King, Jr. See related quote.
Eldest son of Robert Walpole
Earl of Roscommon
This quotation is almost always given as if it were Alcuin who advocated listening to the people, when actually his view was just the opposite. See William Tecumseh Sherman for a more modern expression of the same view. Also, Walter Reynolds {32317} for an opposite view, but using a similar phrase. Note that since he was referring to what "the people" say, the quote must have been in common usage in the 9th century. For the earliest known use of the statement in Western civilization, see Hesiod {603399}.
See Otis Singletary for a similar modern view
This was much more the case in 1840 when this quotation was written. Since then, a much higher proportion of American society has become educated, and the cultures that American immigrants have come from had multiplied. Publications abounded and after radio and television there were more attacks on American majority positions. The major change came with radio call in talk shows, similar TV shows and then the Internet provided a painless way to publicly go against majority opinion. By the first decade of the 21st century, movements of majority rejectionists such as the Tea Party and the Occupy Movement were thriving and “futile contests” received much public attention and showed that there were others with the non-majority views who made it socially acceptable to be outside the norms of the majority.
François-Marie Arouet, known by his nom de plume Voltaire (/vɒlˈtɛər, voʊl-/; also US: /vɔːl-/; French: [vɔltɛːʁ]), was a French Enlightenment writer, historian, and philosopher famous for his wit, his criticism of Christianity—especially the Roman Catholic Church—as well as his advocacy of freedom of speech, freedom of religion, and separation of church and state.
