[The courtier should endeavour] to love and almost to adore the prince whom he serves, moulding his wishes, habits and all his ways to his prince’s liking [even labouring] to like that which perhaps he by nature dislikes.
— Baldassare Castiglione
Power is the pivot on which everything hinges. He who has the power is always right; the weaker is always wrong.
— Machiavelli
Truthiness is what you want the facts to be as opposed to what the facts are. What feels like the right answer as opposed to what reality will support.
— Stephen Colbert
A democracy is no more than an aristocracy of orators. The people are so readily moved by demagogues that control must be exercised by the government over speech and press.
— Thomas Hobbes
Judas is neither a master of evil nor the figure of a demoniacal power of darkness but rather a sycophant who bows before the anonymous power of changing moods and current fashions.
— Pope Benedict XVI
You always know the mark of a coward. A coward hides behind freedom. A brave person stands in front of freedom and defends it for others.
