"The advantage of tyrannical government therefore lies in acting at great distances. With the help of the rallying-points it establishes, its strength, like that of the lever,26 grows with distance. The strength of the people, on the other hand, acts only when concentrated: when spread abroad, it evaporates and is lost, like powder scattered on the ground, which catches fire only grain by grain. The least populous countries are thus the fittest for tyranny: fierce animals reign only in deserts."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
III, Ch. 8.
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Social_Contract
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
The Social Contract
81 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by The Social Contract →
Related Quotes
"It is precisely because the force of circumstances tends continually to destroy equality that the force of legislatio…"
"L'homme est né libre, et partout il est dans les fers. Tel se croit le maître des autres, qui ne laisse pas d’…"
"The family then may be called the first model of political societies: the ruler corresponds to the father, and the pe…"
"The reasoning of Caligula agrees with that of Hobbes and Grotius. Aristotle, before any of them, had said that men ar…"
"Slaves lose everything in their chains, even the desire of escaping from them: they love their servitude, as the comr…"
"The strongest is never strong enough always to be master, unless he transforms strength into right, and obedience int…"
"Now, a man who becomes the slave of another does not give himself; he sells himself, at the least for his subsistence…"
"Tranquility is found also in dungeons; but is that enough to make them desirable places to live in? To say that a man…"
"The right of conquest has no foundation other than the right of the strongest. If war does not give the conqueror the…"
"Every people, to which its situation gives no choice save that between commerce and war, is weak in itself: it depend…"