Georges Clemenceau Quotes

Only the history of free peoples is worth our attention; the history of men under a despotism is merely a collection of anecdotes.

Nip the shoots of arbitrary power in the bud, is the only maxim which can ever preserve the liberties of any people.

No cause is left but the most ancient of all, the one, in fact, that from the beginning of our history has determined the very existence of politics, the cause of freedom versus tyranny.

Freedom is never easily won, but once established, freedom lasts, spreads and chokes out tyranny.

Will dissent be permitted? The answer to that question will determine whether the society is a free society or a fear society.

The desire for liberty has also made itself felt as struggle against domestic tyranny or arbitrary rule.

As for civil liberties, any one who is not vigilant may one day find himself living, if not in a police state, at least in a police city.

Our defense is in the preservation of the spirit which prizes liberty as a heritage of all men, in all lands, everywhere. Destroy this spirit and you have planted the seeds of despotism around your own doors.

The stability and security of authoritarian regimes cannot create but terrorism and violence and destruction. Let us accept the choice of the people. Let us not pick and choose who we would like to rule their future.

Anywhere, anytime ordinary people are given the chance to choose, the choice is the same: freedom, not tyranny; democracy, not dictatorship; the rule of law, not the rule of the secret police.

Ultimately, freedom and democracy are stronger than fear and tyranny.

Democracy is the form of government that gives every man the right to be his own oppressor.

Perhaps the fact that we have seen millions voting themselves into complete dependence on a tyrant has made our generation understand that to choose one's government is not necessarily to secure freedom.

There is no week nor day nor hour when tyranny may not enter upon this country, if the people lose their roughness and spirit of defiance.

I would rather belong to a poor nation that was free than to a rich nation that had ceased to be in love with liberty.

Now in the whole of Europe there are only two parties: France for the freedom of peoples against all the rulers, and all the monarchs against France for despotism and old traditions.

To quell all nations - to dethrone all Kings, and plant the Tree of Liberty in our Irish land.

We must be ever vigilant against those who would strong arm the judiciary into adopting their preferred policies. It takes a lot of degeneration before a country falls into a dictatorship, but we should avoid these ends be avoiding these beginnings.

Freedom taken for granted can be freedom taken away.

My people and I have come to an agreement that satisfies us both: They are to say what they please, and I am to do as I please.

I say that the most inefficient, wasteful self-government is worth more than the most efficient dictatorship.

As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. Whatever differs from this, to the extent of the difference, is no democracy.

We are not against any man—or any nation—or any system—except as it is hostile to freedom.

In a hundred years to come my people will not be fit for liberty. They do not know what it is….Despotism is the proper government for them.

A military government may make a nation great, but it cannot make them free.