Republics

Famous quotes containing the word republics:

“Royalty is a government in which the attention of the nation is concentrated on one person doing interesting actions. A Republic is a government in which that attention is divided between many, who are all doing uninteresting actions. Accordingly, so long as the human heart is strong and the human reason weak, Royalty will be strong because it appeals to diffused feeling, and Republics weak because they appeal to the understanding.”
—Walter Bagehot (1826–1877)

“It is, said Gargantua, as Plato said ... that republics will be happy when kings philosophize or philosophers reign.”
—François Rabelais (1494–1553)