Gilbert K. Chesterton Quotes

People crushed by law have no hopes but from power. If laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to laws

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

Power is never so overwhelming that there's no room for resistance.

There is nothing more unaesthetic than a policeman.

Civilization is a youth with a molotov cocktail in his hand. Culture is the Soviet tank or L.A. cop that guns him down.

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

What we really need to be understanding is that all of these things matter and they all stem from the fact that certain people live with power and authority and they want to maintain it.

Sometimes I think the world is divided into those who have a comfortable relationship with power and those who have a naturally adversarial relationship with power.

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.

People in power need to control others in order to maintain power. One of the ways to do that is to take that which is threatening and demonize it.

Wherever there is a man who exercises authority, there is a man who resists authority!

A revolution [is] not a single act, but rather a chain of collisions and conflicts with the ruling class, which is never ready to submit itself to the will of a democratic majority, but rather defends its predominant position with all means at its disposal, with the help of the powers which the state has built up—the army, the police, the courts and the church

Law is merely the expression of the will of the strongest for the time being.

Power abdicates only under stress of counter-power.

There is no middle course between the throne and the scaffold.

Power is being able to affect the hegemony of existing systems.

The struggle between Liberty and Authority is the most conspicuous feature in the portions of history with which we are earliest familiar.

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.

Wild beasts hate nets, and people hate their superiors.

Attempts to run the world generate resistance.

Oppression is the essence of power.

We gradually become aware that we live in an environment where there is constant tension between authority and freedom.

When you think of the long and gloomy history of man, you will find that far more, and far more hideous, crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than have ever been committed in the name of rebellion.

As the oppressor minority subordinates and dominates the majority, it must divide it and keep it divided in order to remain in power.

There are .. two choices: obedience to institutional authority or radical dissent from it.