Polybius Quotes

Force does not constitute right... obedience is due only to legitimate powers.

The sword is the axis of the world and its power is absolute.

It is right that what is just should be obeyed; it is necessary that what is strongest should be obeyed. Justice without might is helpless; might without justice is tyrannical.

Sovereignty resides originally in the people, and in each individual with regard to himself; and that it is the transferring and uniting the several rights of individuals in the person of the sovereign, that constitutes him such, and really produces sovereignty.

People have to be armed to have power, you see.

Accumulation of power is as necessary as its diffusion, or rather more so.

It is necessary from the very nature of things that power should be a check to power.

The great desideratum in Government is, so to modify the sovereignty as that it may be sufficiently neutral between different parts of the Society to controul one part from invading the rights of another, and at the same time sufficiently controuled itself, from setting up an interest adverse to that of the entire Society.

The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of Government. But what is Government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature?

Liberty is an inalienable right, adhering to all residents of the Netherlands commonwealth. No power on earth, much less any power derived truly from the people … can challenge or obstruct the enjoyment of this liberty …

The Constitution is not about restricting the people; it is about restricting the government.

Do you tell me that the Bible is against our rights? Then I say that our claims do not rest upon a book written no one knows when, or by whom. Do you tell me what Paul or Peter says on the subject? Then again I reply that our claims do not rest on the opinions of any one, not even on those of Paul and Peter, ... Books and opinions, no matter from whom they came, if they are in opposition to human rights, are nothing but dead letters

Well, I think, by definition, all power has limits.

Men are strong so long as they represent a strong idea they become powerless when they oppose it.

When you're the king of someplace, you don't voluntarily leave.

I don't have a master. I'm not sure if I have an equal.

Our rights are not granted by governments. They are inherent to our nature. But it's entirely the opposite for governments: their privileges are precisely equal to only those which we suffer them to enjoy.

Any government will work if authority and responsibility are equal and coordinate. This does not insure “good” government, it simply insures that it will work. But such governments are rare — most people want to run things, but want no part of the blame. This used to be called the “backseat driver” syndrome.

It [appears] that however certain forms of government are better calculated than others to protect individuals in the free exercise of their natural rights, and are at the same time themselves better guarded against degeneracy, yet experience [has] shown that, even under the best forms, those entrusted with power have, in time and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny.

War and Authority are companions; Peace and Liberty are companions.

Whoever uses force without Right ... puts himself into a state of War with those, against whom he uses it, and in that state all former Ties are canceled, all other Rights cease, and every one has a Right to defend himself, and to resist the Aggressor.

Both liberty and equality are among the primary goals pursued by human beings throughout many centuries; but total liberty for wolves is death to the lambs, total liberty of the powerful, the gifted, is not compatible with the rights to a decent existence of the weak and the less gifted.

Authority is God ordained, but authoritarianism and raw power, in almost all forms, is dangerous.

We will save our sovereign rights as a nation.

No one can hold absolute power for long, controlled power endures.