Men are still men. The despot's wickedness
Comes of ill teaching, and of power's excess,--
Comes of read more

Men are still men. The despot's wickedness
Comes of ill teaching, and of power's excess,--
Comes of the purple he from childhood wears,
Slaves would be tyrants if the chance were theirs.

The worst form of tyranny the world has ever known the tyranny of the weak over the strong. It is read more

The worst form of tyranny the world has ever known the tyranny of the weak over the strong. It is the only tyranny that lasts.

A king ruleth as he ought, a tyrant as he lists, a king to the
profit of all, a read more

A king ruleth as he ought, a tyrant as he lists, a king to the
profit of all, a tyrant only to please a few.

Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.

Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.

There is a secret pride in every human heart that revolts at tyranny. You may order and drive an individual, read more

There is a secret pride in every human heart that revolts at tyranny. You may order and drive an individual, but you cannot make him respect you.

I knew him tyrannous; and tyrants' fears
Decrease not, but grow faster than the years;
And should read more

I knew him tyrannous; and tyrants' fears
Decrease not, but grow faster than the years;
And should he doubt it, as no doubt he doth,
That I should open to the list'ning air
How many worthy princes' bloods were shed
To keep his bed of blackness unlaid ope,
To lop that doubt, he'll fill this land with arms
And make pretense of wrong that I have done him;
When all, for mine, if I may call offense,
Must feel war's blow, who spares not innocence;
Which love to all, of which thyself art one,
Who now reproved'st me for't--

O nation miserable,
With an untitled tyrant bloody-sceptred,
When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again,
read more

O nation miserable,
With an untitled tyrant bloody-sceptred,
When shalt thou see thy wholesome days again,
Since that the truest issue of thy throne
By his own interdiction stands accursed
And does blaspheme his breed?

Tyrants have always some slight shade of virtue; they support the laws before destroying them.

Tyrants have always some slight shade of virtue; they support the laws before destroying them.

For what is he they follow? Truly, gentlemen,
A bloody tyrant and a homicide;
One raised in read more

For what is he they follow? Truly, gentlemen,
A bloody tyrant and a homicide;
One raised in blood and one in blood established;
One that made means to come by what he hath,
And slaughtered those that were the means to help him;
A base foul stone, made precious by the foil
Of England's chair, where he is falsely set;
One that hath ever been God's enemy.