France was long a “Despotism tempered by Epigrams.”
Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Scottish essayist and historian
The French Revolution: A History, Part 1, Book 2, ch. 4 (1.2.4) (1837)
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Though given in quotation marks, Carlyle is apparently "quoting" himself.
This quotation is commonly given on its own, though, since Carlyle's thesis at this point in his history is that the royal government had largely become irrelevant in the nation, he continues:... and now, it would seem, the Epigrams have got the upper hand.
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Quotations about:
absolute power
Note not all quotations have been tagged, so Search may find additional quotes on this topic.
‘But if you’ll pardon my speaking out, I think my master was right. I wish you’d take his Ring. You’d put things to rights. You’d stop them digging up the Gaffer and turning him adrift. You’d make some folk pay for their dirty work.’
‘I would,’ she said. ‘That is how it would begin. But it would not stop with that, alas!’
J.R.R. Tolkien (1892-1973) English writer, fabulist, philologist, academic [John Ronald Reuel Tolkien]
The Lord of the Rings, Vol. 1: The Fellowship of the Ring, Book 2, ch. 7 “The Mirror of Galadriel” [Sam and Galadriel] (1954)
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Every successful revolution puts on in time the robes of the tyrant it has deposed.
Barbara W. Tuchman (1912-1989) American historian and author
Stilwell and the American Experience in China, 1911-1945, ch. 8 (1972)
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Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who possess it.
William Pitt the Elder (1708-1778) British statesman, orator [1st Earl of Chatham]
Speech, House of Lords (9 Jan 1770)
Regarding the case of John Wilkes. More famously stated by Lord Acton in 1887.
The number of those men who know how to use wholly irresponsible power humanely and generously is small.
Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811-1896) American author
Uncle Tom’s Cabin, ch. 29 “The Unprotected” (1852)
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