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We Russians have learned to fear anarchy above all else. We would rather have tyranny than it. Hanno, you do wrong to look on people’s republics, strong governments of every kind, as always evil. Freedom is perhaps better, but chaos is worse.

— Poul Anderson

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More quotes by Poul Anderson

For the ordinary man, instability—change—means dislocation, war, uncertainty, misery, and death.

The Long Way Home (1955)

Man’s duty in this life, he thought, is to choose the lesser evil.

The People of the Wind (1973)

“Destiny,” said John. “The ghastliest word a man can speak.”

The Corridors of Time (1965)

Time is the bridge that always burns behind us.

Men, whose span is cruelly short, rush nonetheless to death in their youth as to a maiden’s arms.

The Broken Sword (1954)

All Poul Anderson quotes →

Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Poul Anderson (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.