WIST Quotations https://wist.info Wish I'd Said That! Fri, 30 Oct 2026 00:58:57 +0000 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.4 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.1.4 https://wist.info/wp/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/little-w-little-box-60x60.jpg political process – WIST Quotations https://wist.info 32 32 43606282 Roosevelt, Franklin Delano -- Speech (1941-03-29), Jackson Day Radio Broadcast, U.S.S. Potomac https://wist.info/roosevelt-franklin-delano/76468/ https://wist.info/roosevelt-franklin-delano/76468/#respond Thu, 01 May 2025 15:47:38 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=76468 In our country, disagreements among us are expressed in the polling place. In the dictatorships, disagreements are suppressed in the concentration camp.


Franklin Delano Roosevelt (1882–1945) American lawyer, politician, statesman; US President (1933–45)
Speech (1941-03-29), Jackson Day Radio Broadcast, U.S.S. Potomac ]]> https://wist.info/roosevelt-franklin-delano/76468/feed/ 0 76468 Arendt, Hannah -- Interview (1973-10) with Roger Errera, Office de Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (ORTF) https://wist.info/arendt-hannah/76008/ https://wist.info/arendt-hannah/76008/#respond Wed, 02 Apr 2025 15:59:33 +0000 Dave https://wist.info/?p=76008 Look here, tyranny was discovered very early in human history, and identified very early as inimical to political life. Still, it has never in any way prevented any tyrant from becoming a tyrant. It did not prevent Nero, and it did not prevent Caligula. And the cases of Nero and Caligula have not prevented a much nearer example of what the massive intrusion of criminality into political processes means for human life.


Hannah Arendt (1906–1975) German-American philosopher, political theorist
Interview (1973-10) with Roger Errera, Office de Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (ORTF)

Speaking (most proximately) about the Watergate scandal.

The interview was edited and retranslated in 2013 [tr. Andrew Brown], and collected in Arendt, Thinking without a Bannister: Essays in Understanding, 1953-1975 (2018) [ed. Jerome Kohn]. That is the text quoted.

Parts of this interview were turned into an episode of the French TV series "Un certain regard," directed by Jean-Claude Lubtchansky, first broadcast 1974-07-06. This portion of the interview comes at 49:17, and reads:

You see, tyranny has been discovered very early, and very early really as an enemy. Still, it has never in any way prevented any tyrant from becoming a tyrant. It has not prevented Nero, and has not prevented Caligula. And Nero and Caligula have not prevented a more closer example of what the massive intrusion of criminality can mean for the political process.

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