There is something very consistent about governance in the Arab world. Among the Arab countries today in which there is a modicum of internal stability, each is controlled by an Arafat-type figure - an anti-democratic strongman who is able to crush all challenges to his authority. Likewise, among those Arab countries that aren't ruled by a despot, the political dynamic is also consistent: In Lebanon, Iraq, and now Gaza, sectarian violence is the dominant form of political expression.
The savior who wants to turn men into angels is as much a hater of human nature as the totalitarian despot who wants to turn them into puppets.
Custom governs the world; it is the tyrant of our feelings and our manners and rules the world with the hand of a despot.
Here Fashion is a despot, and no one dreams of evading its dictates.
In times of anarchy one may seem a despot in order to be a saviour.
Our nation and those of the developed world must offer our own resistance to despot leaders who seek to commit murder on the basis of religion or race.
Every State is a despotism, be the despot one or many.
If you think of yourselves as helpless and ineffectual, it is certain that you will create a despotic government to be your master. The wise despot, therefore, maintains among his subjects a popular sense that they are helpless and ineffectual.
A good constitution is infinitely better than the best despot.
Love sometimes elevates, creates new qualities, suspends the working of evil inclinations; but only for a day. Love, then, is an Oriental despot, whose glance lifts a slave from the dust, and then consigns him to it again.
Absolute power turns its possessors not into a God but an anti-God. For God turned clay into men, while the absolute despot turns men into clay.
Idealism is the despot of thought, just as politics is the despot of will.
Imagination is the mightiest despot.
I don't give a damn if you like Blackbeard. I don't care if you think he is an absolute despot. Do you believe me? If you do, I've done my work.
A country governed by a despot is an inverted cone.
If a despot like Adolf Hitler can think of 1000-year reign, why can't you think of a goal that is gonna last 100 years after you have gone?
