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Tyranny Quotes

On control, corruption, and where power turns oppressive.

Several lines argue that everyday pressures, like an overbearing neighbor, can feel just as oppressive as anything more dramatic. Read more in our Control quotes.

For somehow this disease inheres in tyranny, never to trust one's friends.

Quotes by Aeschylus

Death is softer by far than tyranny.

Quotes by Aeschylus

Communism is the death of the soul. It is the organization of total conformity - in short, of tyranny - and it is committed to making tyranny universal.

Quotes by Adlai Stevenson I

Let this circumstance of our constitution therefore be directed to this noble purpose, and then all the objections urged against it by jealous tyranny and affrighted superstition will vanish.

Quotes by Adam Weishaupt

Control Quotes

Unlimited power is apt to corrupt the minds of those who posses it; and this I know, my lords: that where law ends, tyranny begins.

Quotes by William Pitt

Peace without justice is tyranny.

Quotes by William Allen White

The fear that individuality will be crushed out by the growing 'tyranny' of standardization is the sort of myth which cannot withstand the briefest examination.

Quotes by Walter Gropius

You may talk of the tyranny of Nero and Tiberius; but the real tyranny is the tyranny of your next-door neighbor.

Quotes by Walter Bagehot

The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination.

Voltaire

Emotion Quotes

Freedom is never easily won, but once established, freedom lasts, spreads and chokes out tyranny.

Quotes by Trent Lott

I do not have a 10-point plan or a formula for reversing our accelerating slide into tyranny. But any fool can see what doesn't work and what has no chance of success.

Quotes by Tom Tancredo

It is an essential tenet of our whole representative form of government, the idea that there should not be some tyranny which makes it so nobody can even have a chance to vote.

Quotes by Todd Akin

Of all the tyrannies that affect mankind, tyranny in religion is the worst.

Quotes by Thomas Paine

I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.

Thomas Jefferson

Injustice Quotes

I shall earnestly and persistently continue to urge all women to the practical recognition of the old Revolutionary maxim. Resistance to tyranny is obedience to God.

Quotes by Susan B. Anthony

I've always considered the government taking one out of every two dollars I earn absolute tyranny.

Quotes by Steven Van Zandt

Let us not be defeated by the tyranny of the world financial markets that threaten peace and democracy everywhere.

Quotes by Stephane Hessel

Colonel Qaddafi's tyranny was absolutist, monarchical, and personal. The problem with such dictatorships is that as long as the tyrant lives, he reigns and terrorizes.

Quotes by Simon Sebag Montefiore

Fear of death has been the greatest ally of tyranny past and present.

Quotes by Sidney Hook

Oppression Quotes

I feel that the Second Amendment is the right to keep and bear arms for our citizenry. This not for someone who's in the military. This is not for law enforcement. This is for us. And, in fact, when you...

Quotes by Sharron Angle

Frequently Asked Questions

What does this Tyranny collection focus on?
It's about power without restraint, in forms both grand and small — from the tyranny of historical rulers like Nero and Tiberius to the sharper claim that the real tyranny is that of your next-door neighbor.
Are these quotes only about political dictatorship?
No — one line dismisses the fear that individuality will be crushed by the 'tyranny' of standardization as a myth that can't survive scrutiny, applying the word to conformity and social pressure rather than a ruler or regime.
Why do people search for tyranny quotes?
They're often used to critique abuse of power, whether in politics, institutions, or everyday life, and to warn against unchecked authority. See related themes in Oppression quotes.
Is there a quote about the boundaries of government power?
Yes, one states that unlimited power tends to corrupt those who hold it, and that where law ends, tyranny begins — a statement about the relationship between law and control, not a comment on any current government.
What's the darker, more cynical line in this collection?
One quote calls the best government a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination — a provocative, ironic remark about governance rather than a literal endorsement of violence.

Others focus on power itself, warning that authority left unchecked tends to corrupt and that law is what keeps tyranny at bay. Explore Oppression quotes for related ideas.