Leon Trotsky Quotes

Enormous monarchies are probably destructive to human nature in their progress, in their continuance and even in their own downfall.

The Emperor Napoleon, ascending gradually from his post of national magistrate to seat himself upon a throne without limits, seems to have wished to punish, as for the abuse of republican reforms, by making us feel all the weight of absolute monarchy.

The mentality of the Russian demands a lord, a czar, a president.

The government of a single person is no assurance of a stable and tranquil government.

The benevolent despot who sees himself as a shepherd of the people still demands of others the submissiveness of sheep.

Napoleon - the people who were becoming Napoleon's generals realized that for him, it was not about spreading freedom and revolution; it was about creating a new empire with Napoleon the dictator or the emperor.

Korell is that frequent phenomenon in history : the republic whose ruler has every attribute of the absolute monarch but the name. It therefore enjoyed the usual despotism unrestrained even by those two moderating influences in the legitimate monarchies: regal "honor" and court etiquette.

We've been saying Putin is a dictator for years who doesn't care about the law.

Russia - having sat across the table from Vladimir Putin, it's pretty clear when you meet him that he has an almost limitless ambition for power. And he's been very good at acquiring it - political power, economic power, military power, territorial power.

Red is a benevolent dictatorship.

Authoritarianism is not pretending anymore to be a real alternative to democracy, but we can see many more authoritarian practices and styles basically being smuggled into democratic governments.

Asia's governments come in two broad varieties: young, fragile democracies - and older, fragile authoritarian regimes.

Totalitarianism is feudalism in the twelfth century sense of the word.

Moammar Gaddafi, who has called himself the 'Guide of the First of September Great Revolution of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya,' should go down in history with the Emperor Bokassa and Idi Amin as a grotesque reminder of why people have the right to change their government.

Republics decline into democracies and democracies degenerate into despotisms.

Dictators are allergic to reform, and they are cunning survivors. They will do whatever it takes to preserve their power and wealth, no matter how much blood ends up on their hands. They are master deceivers and talented manipulators who cannot be trusted to change.

I began life as an absolute monarchist - on condition, of course, that I be that monarch.

Dictators are interesting, no?

The love of domination and an uncontrolled lust of arbitrary power have prevailed among all nations and perhaps in proportion to the degrees of civilization.

I've met quite a few dictators up close and personal in my life.

Russia will preserve itself as a unitary state by all means. This will take place either through the civilized constitutional process or through crude force, arbitrary rule and dictatorship.

Russia is an Evil Empire.

The Arabs have managed to turn democracy or their revolution into a dynastic or monarchic regime, which is handed down. Most Arab regimes are monarchic regimes, one way or another---especially the republics.

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.

All executive power --- from the reign of ancient kings to the rule of modern dictators --- has the outward appearance of efficiency