Kennedy, Robert F. -- “Value of Dissent,” speech, Nashville, Tennessee (21...
Every dictatorship has ultimately strangled in the web of repression it wove for its people, making mistakes that could not be corrected because criticism was prohibited. Robert Francis Kennedy...
View ArticleVoltaire -- Philosophical Dictionary, “Tyranny” (1764) [tr. Gay (1962)]
If I had to choose, I should detest the tyranny of one man less than that of many. A despot always has his good moments; an assembly of despots never. Voltaire (1694-1778) French writer [pseud. of...
View ArticleCamus, Albert -- “Homage to an Exile” (1955)
The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants, and it provides the further advantage of giving the servants of tyranny a good conscience. It would be easy, however, to...
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Ames, Fisher -- (Attributed)
Monarchy is like a sleek craft, it sails along well until some bumbling captain runs it into the rocks. Democracy, on the other hand, is like a raft. It never goes down but, dammit, your feet are...
View ArticleBukowski, Charles -- Erections, Ejaculations, Exhibitions and Tales of...
The difference between a Democracy and a Dictatorship is that in a Democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a Dictatorship you don’t have to waste your time voting. Charles Bukowski...
View ArticleCicero, Marcus Tullius -- Letters to Quintus #19 (2.15) (Jun, AD 54) [tr....
We have no small hope in our elections, but it is still uncertain. There is some suspicion of a dictatorship. We have peace in public but it is the calm of an old and tired state, not one giving...
View ArticleArendt, Hannah -- “Personal Responsibility Under Dictatorship” (1964)
The dividing line between those who want to think and therefore have to judge by themselves, and those who do not, strikes across all social and cultural or educational differences. In this respect,...
View ArticleArendt, Hannah -- Interview with Roger Errera (Oct 1973), The New York Review...
Another fine quotation from WIST - Wish I'd Said That! . The moment we no longer have a free press, anything can happen. What makes it possible for a totalitarian or any other dictatorship to rule is...
View ArticleWest, Rebecca -- “The Necessity and Grandeur of the International Ideal” (1934)
It would seem … that man has been shocked by the war into forgetting how to be a political animal. This suspicion is confirmed by the spread of Fascism, which is a headlong flight into fantasy from the...
View ArticleBrecht, Bertholt -- The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui [Der Aufhaltsame...
If we could learn to look, instead of gawking, We’d see the horror in the heart of farce. If only we could act, instead of talking, We wouldn’t always end up on our arse. This is the thing that nearly...
View ArticleChurchill, Winston -- “The Defence of Freedom and Peace (The Lights are Going...
People say we ought not to allow ourselves to be drawn into a theoretical antagonism between Nazidom and democracy; but the antagonism is here now. It is this very conflict of spiritual and moral ideas...
View ArticleKapuscinski, Ryszard -- Shah of Shahs (1982)
Despotic authority attaches great importance to being considered strong, and much less to being admired for its wisdom. Besides, what does wisdom mean to a despot? It means skill in the use of power....
View ArticleDurant, William James -- The Lessons of History, ch. 10 (1968) [with Ariel...
But if war continues to absorb and dominate it, or if the itch to rule the world requires large military establishment and appropriation, the freedom of democracy may one by one succumb to the...
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