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Power and the polity
Machiavelli, Tocqueville, Mill: how power is taken, and what holds it.
60 ideas · 30 min
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Literature
Romanian history
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The reading track
60 lessons
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All authors
John Stuart Mill · 10
Montesquieu · 8
Jean-Jacques Rousseau · 7
Tucidide · 6
John Locke · 5
Alexis de Tocqueville · 4
Publius (Hamilton, Madison, Jay) · 4
Edmund Burke · 4
01
Initiating a fundamental change is extremely difficult, risky, and dangerous.
Discursuri asupra primei decade a lui Titus Livius · Niccolò Machiavelli · 1531
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02
People are more impressed by appearances and visible results than by invisible reality or process.
Discursuri asupra primei decade a lui Titus Livius · Niccolò Machiavelli · 1531
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03
Power dictates action, weakness imposes suffering.
Istoria războiului peloponesiac · Tucidide · -400
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04
The whole of Athens educates Greece through its example.
Istoria războiului peloponesiac · Tucidide · -400
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05
True courage means acting with a clear awareness of the risks.
Istoria războiului peloponesiac · Tucidide · -400
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06
People easily believe what they want to be true.
Istoria războiului peloponesiac · Tucidide · -400
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07
In peace, fathers die before their sons; in war, sons die before their fathers.
Istoria războiului peloponesiac · Tucidide · -400
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08
Admitting defeat by a stronger opponent is not a disgrace.
Istoria războiului peloponesiac · Tucidide · -400
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09
After escaping the king's tyranny, Americans must now guard against the tyranny of the legislature.
Despre democrația în America · Alexis de Tocqueville · 1840
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10
In America, political liberty is more widespread than anywhere else on Earth.
Despre democrația în America · Alexis de Tocqueville · 1840
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11
Freedom produces extraordinary things, but knowing how to use it is the hardest lesson.
Despre democrația în America · Alexis de Tocqueville · 1840
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12
Power over an individual is justified only to prevent harm to others.
Despre libertate · John Stuart Mill · 1859
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13
The majority has no right to silence a minority opinion, no matter how singular.
Despre libertate · John Stuart Mill · 1859
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14
We can never be sure that an opinion we censor is false, and censoring it is an evil even if it were false.
Despre libertate · John Stuart Mill · 1859
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15
Genius needs freedom to fully express itself.
Despre libertate · John Stuart Mill · 1859
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16
Society gains more by letting people live according to their own preferences than by forcing them to conform.
Despre libertate · John Stuart Mill · 1859
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17
True freedom means pursuing your own good without preventing others from doing the same.
Despre libertate · John Stuart Mill · 1859
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18
Despotic rule can be legitimate when applied to 'barbarian' peoples, provided its goal is their improvement.
Despre libertate · John Stuart Mill · 1859
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19
Individuality is synonymous with human development; only by cultivating it can we produce truly evolved human beings.
Despre libertate · John Stuart Mill · 1859
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20
In America, religion does not directly control the state, but it is the foundation of social and political order.
Despre democrația în America · Alexis de Tocqueville · 1840
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21
A person can harm others both by action and by inaction, and is accountable in either case.
Despre libertate · John Stuart Mill · 1859
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22
Society has the right to intervene only in actions that affect others.
Despre libertate · John Stuart Mill · 1859
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23
Without a strong state, human life is filled with violence, poverty, and constant fear.
Leviathan · Thomas Hobbes · 1651
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24
Liberty does not mean doing anything, but only what the law allows.
Despre spiritul legilor · Montesquieu · 1748
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25
Uniting legislative and executive power in the same hand destroys liberty.
Despre spiritul legilor · Montesquieu · 1748
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26
A government corrupts first by abandoning the principles that sustain it.
Despre spiritul legilor · Montesquieu · 1748
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27
Vast empires can only be governed with an iron hand.
Despre spiritul legilor · Montesquieu · 1748
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28
Political liberty does not mean doing whatever you want, but being governed by laws.
Despre spiritul legilor · Montesquieu · 1748
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29
The power to judge should not be held by a permanent body, but by people temporarily chosen from among the populace.
Despre spiritul legilor · Montesquieu · 1748
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30
Law, in its broadest sense, is the necessary relationship that arises from the nature of things.
Despre spiritul legilor · Montesquieu · 1748
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31
To create a moderate government, you must combine, regulate, temper, and set in motion the different powers.
Despre spiritul legilor · Montesquieu · 1748
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32
True law reflects the collective will of the people, not private interests.
Contractul social · Jean-Jacques Rousseau · 1762
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33
People are born free, yet they are constrained by society and institutions.
Contractul social · Jean-Jacques Rousseau · 1762
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34
Those who harm others end up hating their victims, driven by their own guilt.
Anale · Tacit · 117
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35
Government is necessary because of human imperfection, not perfection.
Eseurile federaliste · Publius (Hamilton, Madison, Jay) · 1788
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36
The fundamental challenge of government is to control both the people and its own abusive tendencies.
Eseurile federaliste · Publius (Hamilton, Madison, Jay) · 1788
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37
The selfish interests of individuals can be used to neutralize each other within institutions.
Eseurile federaliste · Publius (Hamilton, Madison, Jay) · 1788
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38
A single person at the head of the executive ensures efficiency, speed, and clear accountability.
Eseurile federaliste · Publius (Hamilton, Madison, Jay) · 1788
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39
Politics is the struggle to obtain or influence power, either between states or within them.
Politica, o vocație · Max Weber · 1919
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40
The state is defined by its monopoly of legitimate physical violence over a given territory.
Politica, o vocație · Max Weber · 1919
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41
The ethic of responsibility requires you to consider the foreseeable consequences of your actions.
Politica, o vocație · Max Weber · 1919
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42
Society is not just an agreement among the living, but a bond that includes past and future generations.
Reflecții asupra Revoluției din Franța · Edmund Burke · 1790
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43
Respect for property is a cornerstone of civilization.
Reflecții asupra Revoluției din Franța · Edmund Burke · 1790
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44
The law must protect all citizens, regardless of their social status.
Reflecții asupra Revoluției din Franța · Edmund Burke · 1790
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45
Solid constitutions are not invented by brilliant minds, but develop slowly through experience and tradition.
Reflecții asupra Revoluției din Franța · Edmund Burke · 1790
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46
All men are created equal, are God's property, and have no right to destroy one another.
Al doilea tratat despre cârmuire · John Locke · 1689
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47
Every man has an exclusive right over his own person and his labor.
Al doilea tratat despre cârmuire · John Locke · 1689
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48
Law should not stifle freedom, but protect and enlarge it.
Al doilea tratat despre cârmuire · John Locke · 1689
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49
In any legitimate government, the power that makes the laws is the most important.
Al doilea tratat despre cârmuire · John Locke · 1689
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50
In the absence of a state, every man has the natural right to punish those who violate the law of nature.
Al doilea tratat despre cârmuire · John Locke · 1689
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51
Effective leadership requires the ability to conceal intentions.
Ricordi · Francesco Guicciardini · 1530
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52
Choosing your ruler is not freedom if the structure of domination itself remains untouched.
Discurs despre servitutea voluntară · Étienne de La Boétie · 1576
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53
One man could never rule whole populations unless those populations surrendered out of fear and shame at their own obedience.
Discurs despre servitutea voluntară · Étienne de La Boétie · 1576
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54
A tyrant's power is borrowed: it comes from the weakness and division of the people he rules.
Discurs despre servitutea voluntară · Étienne de La Boétie · 1576
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55
Those born into servitude take it for the natural state of the world and cannot imagine things being otherwise.
Discurs despre servitutea voluntară · Étienne de La Boétie · 1576
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56
The social order is not an arbitrary convention but a fundamental right on which all other rights rest.
Contractul social · Jean-Jacques Rousseau · 1762
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57
Physical power creates no moral obligation; obedience is owed only to legitimate authority.
Contractul social · Jean-Jacques Rousseau · 1762
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58
To give up freedom is to give up being human, along with humanity's rights and duties.
Contractul social · Jean-Jacques Rousseau · 1762
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59
The social contract is the act by which each person places himself and his power under the general will and becomes an indivisible part of the whole.
Contractul social · Jean-Jacques Rousseau · 1762
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60
The general will, as a will aimed at the common good, never errs in its purpose, even if its calculations can be wrong.
Contractul social · Jean-Jacques Rousseau · 1762
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