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The most important single quality of any government, without which it would not exist, must be the obedience and submission of its subjects. Obedience is at the heart of political power.

— Gene Sharp The Politics of Nonviolent Action (1973)

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More quotes by Gene Sharp

All dominating elites and rulers depend for their sources of power upon the cooperation of the population and of the institutions of the society they would rule.

The Role of Power in Nonviolent Struggle (1990)

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