Tyrants quotes

Tyrants

600 quotes on this topic — from poets, philosophers, and thinkers across history.

600 quotes

Explore further

Browse quotes that often appear alongside tyrants — connected by shared ideas and recurring themes.

Quote collection

Tyrants quotes (page 10 of 30)

Follow a thought to its author, or read the full quote page.

Blaise Pascal Mathematician, Physicist, Philosopher
Tyrants

"E? loquence quipersuade par douceur, non par empire, en tyran, non en roi. Eloquence should persuade gently, not by force or like a tyrant or king."

Read quote 4 likes
Aung San Suu Kyi Politician, Activist
Tyrants

"Despotic governments do not recognize the precious human component of the state, seeing its citizens only as a faceless, mindless -- and helpless -- mass to be manipulated at will. It is as though people were incidental to a nation rather than its very life-blood."

Read quote 4 likes
Thomas Jefferson Politician, Founding Father
Tyrants

"A little rebellion now and then is a good thing. Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God. In order to flourish, the tree of Liberty needs the blood of patriots and tyrants."

Read quote 4 likes
Stephen King Author
Tyrants

"A hurt body and mind aren't just like a dictatorship; they are a dictatorship. There is no tyrant as merciless as pain, no despot so cruel as confusion."

Read quote 4 likes
John Adams Founding Father, Politician
Tyrants

"The right of a nation to kill a tyrant, in cases of necessity, can no more be doubted, than to hang a robber, or kill a flea. But killing one tyrant only makes way for worse, unless the people have sense, spirit and honesty enough to establish and support a constitution guarded at all points against the tyranny of the one, the few, and the many."

Read quote 4 likes
Edward Young Poet, Playwright
Tyrants

"Blest leisure is our curse; like that of Cain, It, makes us wander, wander earth around, To fly that tyrant Thought. As Atlas groan'd The world beneath, we groan beneath an hour."

Read quote 3 likes
Edward Abbey Author, Environmentalist
Tyrants

"Industrialism, whether of the capitalist or socialist coloration, is the basic tyrant of the modern age."

Read quote 3 likes
Edward Abbey Author, Environmentalist
Tyrants

"Shakespeare wrote great poetry and preposterous plays. Who really cares, for example, which petty tyrant rules Milan? Or who succeeds to the throne of Denmark? Or why the barons ganged up on Richard II?"

Read quote 3 likes
Bertrand Russell Philosopher, Mathematician
Tyrants

"It is in the nature of imperialism that citizens of the imperial power are always among the last to know-or care-about circumstances in the colonies."

Read quote 3 likes
Albert Einstein Physicist
Tyrants

"An autocratic system of coercion, in my opinion, soon degenerates. For force always attracts men of low morality, and I believe it to be an invariable rule that tyrants of genius are succeeded by scoundrels. For this reason I have always been passionately opposed to systems such as we see in Italy and Russia to-day."

Read quote 3 likes