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My political opinions lean more and more to Anarchy (philosophically understood, meaning abolition of control not whiskered men with bombs) ... The most improper job of any man … is bossing other men. Not one in a million is fit for it, and least of all those who seek the opportunity.

— J. R. R. Tolkien

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More quotes by J. R. R. Tolkien

The significance of a myth is not easily to be pinned on paper by analytical reasoning.

Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics (1936)

Wars are not favourable to delicate pleasures.

It was like discovering a complete wine-filled cellar filled with bottles of an amazing wine of a kind and flavor never tasted before.

The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien (1981)

But the real soul-mate is the one you are actually married to.

The greater part of the truth is always hidden, in regions out of the reach of cynicism.

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The moment the idea is admitted into society, that property is not as sacred as the law of God, and that there is not a force of law and public justice to protect it, anarchy and tyranny commence.

John Adams A Defence of the Constitutions of Government (1787)

There is no governor anywhere; you are all absolutely free. There is no restraint that cannot be escaped.

Robert Anton Wilson

When we see a great man desiring power instead of his real goal we soon recognize that he is sick, or more precisely that his attitude to his work is sick.

Martin Buber What is Man? (1938)

Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.

C. S. Lewis God in the Dock (1970)

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