Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quote Share via Email Print this Page [501-520] of 689 Tyranny quotesTyranny QuotesTyranny Previous 20 quotes Next 20 quotes Loss of liberty is inimical to all forms of literature... The fact is that certain themes cannot be celebrated in words, and tyranny is one of them. No one ever wrote a good book in praise of the Inquisition.~ George Orwell The Party is not interested in the overt act. The thought is all we care about.~ George Orwell It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself—anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face ... was itself a punishable offense. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime ...~ George Orwell That rifle hanging on the wall of the working-class flat or labourer's cottage is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there.~ George Orwell Doublethink means the power of holding two contradictory beliefs in one's mind simultaneously, and accepting both of them.~ George Orwell The number of laws is constantly growing in all countries and, owing to this, what is called crime is very often not a crime at all, for it contains no element of violence or harm.~ P. D. Ouspensky The most common characteristic of all police states is intimidation by surveillance. Citizens know they are being watched and overheard. Their mail is being examined. Their homes can be invaded.~ Vance Packard Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst.~ Thomas Paine These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly. Heaven knows how to put a proper price upon its goods; and it would be strange indeed, if so celestial an article as Freedom should not be highly rated.~ Thomas Paine But if you say, you can still pass the violations over, then I ask, hath your house been burnt? Hath your property been destroyed before your face? Are your wife and children destitute of a bed to lie on, or bread to live on? Have you lost a parent or a child by their hands, and yourself the ruined and wretched survivor? If you have not, then you are not a judge of those who have. But if you have, and can still shake hands with the murderers, then you are unworthy of the name of husband, father, friend, or lover, and whatever may be your rank or title in life, you have the heart of a coward and the spirit of a sycophant.~ Thomas Paine The trade of governing has always been monopolized by the most ignorant and the most rascally individuals of mankind.~ Thomas Paine Society in every state is a blessing, but Government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state, an intolerable one.~ Thomas Paine The worst forms of tyranny, or certainly the most successful ones, are not those we rail against but those that so insinuate themselves into the imagery of our consciousness, and the fabric of our lives, as not to be perceived as tyranny.~ Michael Parenti But, sir, the people themselves have it in their power effectually to resist usurpation, without being driven to an appeal of arms. An act of usurpation is not obligatory; it is not law; and any man may be justified in his resistance. Let him be considered as a criminal by the general government, yet only his fellow-citizens can convict him; they are his jury, and if they pronounce him innocent, not all the powers of Congress can hurt him; and innocent they certainly will pronounce him, if the supposed law he resisted was an act of usurpation.~ Theophilus Parsons Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction.~ Blaise Pascal Justice without force is impotent, force without justice is tyranny. Unable to make what is just strong, we have made what is strong just.~ Blaise Pascal According to Gestapo records…they had little need to engage in direct spying on the citizens since the citizens themselves were more than willing to do their spying for them.~ Kort E. Patterson When one person can initiate war, by its definition, a republic no longer exists.~ Dr. Ron Paul The greatest threat facing America today is the disastrous fiscal policies of our own government, marked by shameless deficit spending and Federal Reserve currency devaluation. It is this one-two punch -- Congress spending more than it can tax or borrow, and the Fed printing money to make up the difference -- that threatens to impoverish us by further destroying the value of our dollars.~ Dr. Ron Paul To do evil that good may come of it is for bunglers in politics as well as morals.~ William Penn Previous 20 quotes Next 20 quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print