#tyranny

The transition from tyranny to democracy is very hard. The Syrian people have to handle this in a way that works in Syria. And the brutality of the Assad regime is unacceptable. ↗

— Jacob Lew

#democracy #handle #hard #people #regime

Power in defense of freedom is greater than power in behalf of tyranny and oppression. ↗

— Malcolm X

#defense #freedom #greater #oppression #power

I do not deny that I planned sabotage. I did not plan it in a spirit of recklessness nor because I have any love of violence. I planned it as a result of a calm and sober assessment of the political situation that had arisen after many years of tyranny, exploitation and oppression of my people by the whites. ↗

— Nelson Mandela

#any #arisen #assessment #because #calm

There are historic situations in which refusal to defend the inheritance of a civilization, however imperfect, against tyranny and aggression may result in consequences even worse than war. ↗

— Reinhold Niebuhr

#aggression #civilization #consequences #defend #even

In most of history, societies have not been free. It's a very rare society that is free. The default condition of human societies is tyranny. ↗

— Michael Novak

#condition #default #free #history #human

Advocates of capitalism are very apt to appeal to the sacred principles of liberty, which are embodied in one maxim: The fortunate must not be restrained in the exercise of tyranny over the unfortunate. ↗

— Bertrand Russell

#apt #capitalism #embodied #exercise #fortunate

The present representative of the Dedlocks is an excellent master. He supposes all his dependents to be utterly bereft of individual characters, intentions, or opinions, and is persuaded that he was born to supersede the necessity of their having any. If he were to make a discovery to the contrary, he would be simply stunned — would never recover himself, most likely, except to gasp and die. ↗

— Charles Dickens

#independence #individuality #leadership #submission #suppression

A ruling intelligentsia, whether in Europe, Asia or Africa, treats the masses as raw material to be experimented on, processed, and wasted at will. ↗

— Eric Hoffer

#oligarchy #tyranny #experience

The wisest thing in the world is to cry out before you are hurt. It is no good to cry out after you are hurt; especially after you are mortally hurt. People talk about the impatience of the populace; but sound historians know that most tyrannies have been possible because men moved too late. it is often essential to resist a tyranny before it exists. ↗

— G.K. Chesterton

#men

Whatever crushes individuality is despotism. ↗

— John Stuart Mill

#individuality #liberty #tyranny #liberty