Terry Eagleton Quotes

Politicians as a class are dangerous, that people who are seeking power over us are not, by definition, our friends.

I think that many people in history who had power were bumped off because they had power.

It's going to be fun to watch and see how long the meek can keep the earth once they inherit it.

A Boss in Heaven is the best excuse for a boss on earth, therefore If God did exist, he would have to be abolished.

People crushed by laws, have no hope but to evade power. If the laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to the law; and those who have most to hope and nothing to lose will always be dangerous.

The scum of the People are most Tyrannical when they get the Power, and treat their Betters with the greatest Insolence.

Suspect power more than vice.

The most express declarations and reservations are necessary to protect the just rights and liberty of mankind from the silent, powerful and ever active conspiracy of those who govern.

The law, unfortunately, has always been retained on the side of power; laws have uniformly been enacted for the protection and perpetuation of power.

Tyranny, Is far the worst of treasons. Dost thou deem None rebels except subjects? The prince who Neglects or violates his trust is more A brigand than the robber-chief.

I don't respond to authority figures who abuse their authority.

Power is what men seek, and any group that gets it will abuse it. It is the same story.

So long as we only believe in the justice of the state, of the law-made by those in power, to serve those in power-so long will we continue to be exploited by those in power.

You!" he cried. "You never hated because you never lived. I know what you are all of you, from first to last--you are the people in power! You are the police--the great, fat smiling men in blue and buttons! You are the Law, and you have never been broken. But is there a free soul alive that does not long to break you, only because you have never been broken?

Beware the abuse of Power. Both by those we disagree with, as well as those we may agree with

Where there is power, there is resistance.

Authority has always attracted the lowest elements in the human race

Each man too is a tyrant in tendency, because he would impose his idea on others; and their trick is their natural defence. Jesuswould absorb the race; but Tom Paine or the coarsest blasphemer helps humanity by resisting this exuberance of power.

Christianity is most admirably adapted to the training of slaves, to the perpetuation of a slave society; in short, to the very conditions confronting us today. The rulers of the earth have realized long ago what potent poison inheres in the Christian religion. That is the reason they foster it; that is why they leave nothing undone to instill it into the blood of the people. They know only too well that the subtleness of the Christian teachings is a more powerful protection against rebellion and discontent than the club or the gun.

Concentrated power can be always wielded in the interest of the few and at the expense of the many. Government in its last analysis is this power reduced to a science. Governments never lead; they follow progress. When the prison, stake or scaffold can no longer silence the voice of the protesting minority, progress moves on a step, but not until then.

Noise is relative to the silence preceeding it. The more absolute the hush, the more shocking the thunderclap. Our masters have not heard the peoples voice for generations, Evey and it is much, much louder than they care to remember.

Power, carried to extremes, is always liable to reaction.

Do not confuse your vested interests with ethics. Do not identify the enemies of your privilege with the enemies of humanity.

Authority is quite degrading.

But remember, this power of the people on top depends on the obedience of the people below. When people stop obeying, they have no power.