When the white man governs himself, that is self-government; but when he governs himself and also governs another man, that is more than self-government - that is despotism.

- Abraham Lincoln

Despotism isn't nearly as bad as it's cracked up to be.

- Arabella Weir

Their poverty secured their freedom, since our desires and our possessions are the strongest fetters of despotism.

- Edward Gibbon

Is not liberty the destruction of all despotism - including, of course, legal despotism?

- Frederic Bastiat

The despotism of custom is everywhere the standing hindrance to human advancement.

- John Stuart Mill

Religions are the cradles of despotism.

- Marquis de Sade

Bureaucracy, the rule of no one, has become the modern form of despotism.

- Mary McCarthy

We are not to expect to be translated from despotism to liberty in a featherbed.

- Thomas Jefferson

Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty.

- Thomas Jefferson

Despotism is a long crime.

- Victor Hugo

Despotism increases in severity with the number of despots; the responsibility is more divided, and the claims are more numerous.

- William Wells Brown