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Had Hannibal had a government behind him that knew how to exploit victories – had he been born a Roman, for instance – he might have conquered the world.

— Isaac Asimov The Land of Canaan (1971)

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Government

More quotes by Isaac Asimov

A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

The Three Laws of Robotics (1942)

The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom.

Isaac Asimov's Book of Science and Nature Quotations (1988)

There is no belief, however foolish, that will not gather its faithful adherents who will defend it to the death.

The Stars in Their Courses (1974)

A robot may not injure humanity, or, through inaction, allow humanity to come to harm.

The Three Laws of Robotics (1942)

Science fiction writers foresee the inevitable, and although problems and catastrophes may be inevitable, solutions are not.

All Isaac Asimov quotes →

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Ill can he rule the great, that cannot reach the small.

Edmund Spenser The Faerie Queene (1589)

The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.

James Madison

Bureaucracy and social harmony are inversely proportional to each other.

Leon Trotsky The Revolution Betrayed (1936)

There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with power to endanger the public liberty.

John Adams

Attribution

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