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Between a tyrant and a prince there is this single or chief difference, that the latter obeys the law and rules the people by its dictates, accounting himself as but their servant.

— John of Salisbury Policraticus (1159)

Est ergo tyranni et principis hæc differentia sola, quod hic legi obtemperat, et ejus arbitrio populum regit, cujus se credit ministrum.

Original text (Latin)

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Notes from Wikiquote

Bk. 4, ch. 1

Topics

Power

More quotes by John of Salisbury

Accurate reading on a wide range of subjects makes the scholar; careful selection of the better makes the saint.

Policraticus (1159)

A man is free in proportion to the measure of his virtues, and the extent to which he is free determines what his virtues can accomplish.

Policraticus (1159)

Bernard of Chartres used to say that we were like dwarfs seated on the shoulders of giants. If we see more and further than they, it is not due to our own clear eyes or tall bodies, but because we are raised on high and upborne by their gigantic bigness.

Metalogicon (1159)

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Attribution

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