Tyrants Quotes

“Voldemort himself created his worst enemy, just as tyrants everywhere do! Have you any idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress? All of them realize that, one day, amongst their many victims, there is sure to be one who rises against them and strikes back!”
― J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

“Remember that all through history, there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they seem invincible. But in the end, they always fall. Always.”
― Mahatma Gandhi, Gandhi: An Autobiography

“Choose your leaders
with wisdom and forethought.
To be led by a coward
is to be controlled
by all that the coward fears.
To be led by a fool
is to be led
by the opportunists
who control the fool.
To be led by a thief
is to offer up
your most precious treasures
to be stolen.
To be led by a liar
is to ask
to be told lies.
To be led by a tyrant
is to sell yourself
and those you love
into slavery.”
― Octavia E. Butler, Parable of the Talents

“Fearlessness in those without power is maddening to those who have it.”
― Tobias Wolff, This Boy's Life

“If a man knows precisely what he can do to you or what epithet he can hurl against you in order to make you lose your temper, your equilibrium, then he can always keep you under subjection.”
― Howard Thurman

“A King, by disallowing Acts of this salutary nature, from being the father of his people, degenerated into a Tyrant and forfeits all rights to his subjects' obedience.”
― Patrick Henry

“If a man is convinced that he is safe only as long as he uses his power to give others a sense of insecurity, then the measure of their security is in his hands. If security or insecurity is at the mercy of a single individual or group, then control of behavior becomes routine. All imperialism functions in this way.”
― Howard Thurman

“Do you want to know something about tyrants? When faced with death, they weep and they beg just like the rest of us.”
― Melina Marchetta, Quintana of Charyn

“Despots prefer the friendship of the dog, who, unjustly mistreated and debased, still loves and serves the man who wronged him.”
― Charles Fourier

“Here are thieves and robbers and tribunals: and they that are called tyrants, who deem that they have after a fashion power over us, because of the miserable body and what appertains to it. Let us show them that they have power over none.”
― Epictetus, The Golden Sayings of Epictetus

“Ever since I arrived to a state of manhood, I have felt a sincere passion for liberty. The history of nations doomed to perpetual slavery, in consequence of yielding up to tyrants their natural born liberties, I read with a sort of philosophical horror; so that the first systematical and bloody attempt at Lexington, to enslave America, thoroughly electrified my mind, and fully determined me to take part with my country.”
― Ethan Allen

“Tyrants have only one problem in life.
They simply just wanna rule everything.”
― Toba Beta, My Ancestor Was an Ancient Astronaut

“The enemy is stupid, he replied. That is ground for hope. There is no originality in tyrants, and they learn nothing from the demise of their precursors. They will be brutal and stifling and engender hatred and destroy what men love and that will defeat them. All important battles are, in the end, conflicts between hatred and love, and we must hold to the idea that love is stronger than hate.”
― Salman Rushdie, Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights

“Laws become fragile under the influence of dictators.”
― Wayne Gerard Trotman

“Both [Satan and Melkor/Morgoth] are loud in their defiance, claiming that they would "rather rule in hell than serve in heaven". One might have admired these rebel angels if one believed their defiance was in the name of liberty- however, both lied. Their rebellions were only provoked by envy and the usurpers' wishes to take the perceived tyrants' place. Never were two more natural tyrants than Morgoth and Satan.”
― David Day

“Never was the victory of patience more complete than in the early church. The anvil broke the hammer by bearing all the blows that the hammer could place upon it. The patience of the saints was stronger than the cruelty of tyrants.”
― Charles H. Spurgeon

“Democracies, as we know, are prone to every error from incompetence and corruption to misguided fetishes and gridlock. Therefore, it is astonishing, in a sense, that we would be willing to submit the direction of our societies to the collective wisdom of an imperfect and frequently disengaged public. How could we be so naïve? To that fair question, we must reply: how could anyone be so gullible as permanently to entrust power—an inherently corrupting force—to a single leader or party? When a dictator abuses his authority, there is no legal way to stop him. When a free society falters, we still have the ability--through open debate and the selection of new leaders--to remedy those shortcomings. We still have time to pick a better egg. That is democracy's comparative advantage, and it should be recognized and preserved.”
― Madeleine K. Albright, Fascism: A Warning

“[Writers] are feared by every tyrant--who shows his fear by burning the books and destroying the individuals.”
― E.B. White, On Democracy

“Until you're prepared to kill your parents, you're not really prepared to change the country, because our parents are our first oppressors.”
― Jerry Rubin

“My students remarked that the Fascist chiefs we remember best were charismatic. Through one method or another, each established an emotional link to the crowd and, like the central figure in a cult, brought deep and often ugly feelings to the surface. This is how the tentacles of Fascism spread inside a democracy. Unlike a monarchy or a military dictatorship imposed on society from above, Fascism draws energy from men and women who are upset because of a lost war, a lost job, a memory of humiliation, or a sense that their country is in steep decline. The more painful the grounds for resentment, the easier it is for a Fascist leader to gain followers by dangling the prospect of renewal or by vowing to take back what has been stolen.”
― Madeleine K. Albright, Fascism: A Warning

“Stalin and Kim made human idols of themselves because they believed, as utopian idealists always do, in the ultimate goodness of themselves and the unchallengeable rightness of their decisions. There was no higher power, and so there could be no higher law. If people disagreed with them, it was because those people were in some way defective--insane, malignant, or mercenary. The rulers could not tolerate actual religion, because they could not tolerate any rival authority or any rival source or judge of goodness, gratitude, and justice.”
― Peter Hitchens

“Knowledge will always be the best weapon against tyrants.”
― Mercedes Lackey, The Black Gryphon

“Dictatorship is the most brutal form of oppressing the masses.
Authoritarianism refers to the oppression of the tyrant and his henchmen, who are as cruel as the tyrant himself. Except for the tyrant and his cronies, everyone in authoritarianism is equal to zero!
However, in racism, which is another form of dictatorship, the tyrant and his henchmen have the support of vigilantes as well. In this case, the significance of civil persecution groups rises slightly above zero. But since they also involve civilians in their crimes, racist regimes become uglier than authoritarianism. And it makes them the worst form of dictatorship.

-To Be Tried As A Jew-”
― Jeyhun Aliyev Silo

“When one talks about this subject, confusion often arises about the difference between Fascism and such related concepts as totalitarianism, dictatorship, despotism, tyranny, autocracy, and so on. As an academic, I might be tempted to wander into that thicket, but as a former diplomat, I am primarily concerned with actions, not labels. To my mind, a Fascist is someone who identifies strongly with and claims to speak for a whole nation or group, is unconcerned with the rights of others, and is willing to use whatever means are necessary—including violence—to achieve his or her goals. In that conception, a Fascist will likely be a tyrant, but a tyrant need not be a Fascist.”
― Madeleine K. Albright, Fascism: A Warning

“Earlier, I cited Oswald Spengler’s chilling century-old prophecy that “the era of individualism, liberalism and democracy, of humanitarianism and freedom, is nearing its end. The masses will accept with resignation the victory of the Caesars, the strong men, and will obey them.” This is the real danger posed by Putin: that he will be a model for other national leaders who want to retain their grip on power indefinitely, despite political and legal constraints.”
― Madeleine K. Albright, Fascism: A Warning

“Decades ago, George Orwell suggested that the best one-word description of a Fascist was “bully,” and on the day of the Normandy invasion, Franklin Roosevelt prayed to the Almighty for a “peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men.” By contrast, President Trump’s eyes light up when strongmen steamroll opposition, brush aside legal constraints, ignore criticism, and do whatever it takes to get their way.”
― Madeleine K. Albright, Fascism: A Warning

“Thank you for my life, Great Queen," he whispered, almost inaudibly; like the true subject of any tyrant, showing gratitude for being allowed to keep what was his alone.”
― Pat O'Shea, The Hounds of the Mórrígan

“What tyrant first dreamed of conquest and clad violent oppression in terms of virtue? Why does the imposition of one will over another draw men like no other sin? For more than two hundred years, the Emperor has demanded that the galaxy align itself to his principles at the cost of ten thousand cultures that lived free and without the need for tyranny. Now Horus demands that the stellar nations of this broken empire dance to his tune instead. Billions die for conquest, to advance the pride of these two vain creatures cast in the shapes of men.
There is no virtue in fighting for conquest. Nothing is more worthless and hollow than obliterating freedom for the sake of more land, more coin, more voices singing your name in holy hymn. Conquest is as meaningless as glory. Worse, it is an evil in its selfishness. Both are triumphs only in a fool's crusade.”
― Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Lord of the Red Sands

“وأعرف أن الذين تسلموا السلطة يؤمنون بالقوة والعنف والضرب بشدة، يعتبرون الرحمة ضعفاً والقسوة قوة.
يعتقدون أن الحرية فوضى والطغيان نظام.
يتوهمون أن ملء السجون والمعتقلات بالأبرياء دليل على ثبات الحكم، وأن الإفراج عن المسجونين السياسيين علامة على إهتزاز الحكام.”
― مصطفى أمين, سنة رابعة سجن

“The man of the house was at the moment something less than a man. Or perhaps he was only what any man eventually might become when guided by no hand but his own.”
― Dean Koontz, The Darkest Evening of the Year