Simón Bolívar: Power

Simón Bolívar was Venezuelan military and political leader, South American libertador. Explore interesting quotes on power.
Simón Bolívar: 34   quotes 24   likes

“A perverted people, should it attaint its liberty, is bound to lose this very soon, because it would be useless to try to impress upon such people that happiness lies in the practice of righteousness; that the reign of law is more powerful than the reign of tyrants, who are more inflexible, and all ought to submit to the wholesome severity of the law; that good morals, and not force, are the pillars of the law and that the exercise of justice is the exercise of liberty.”

Simón Bolívar

As quoted in The World’s Great Speeches, Lewis Copeland and Lawrence Lamm, edit., Dover Publications Inc. (1958) p. 388
The Angostura Address (1819)

People , Justice , Law , Exercises

“Let the entire system of government be strengthened, and let the balance of power be drawn up in such a manner that it will be permanent and incapable of decay because of its own tenuity.”

Simón Bolívar

The Angostura Address (1819)
Context: Let the entire system of government be strengthened, and let the balance of power be drawn up in such a manner that it will be permanent and incapable of decay because of its own tenuity. Precisely because no form of government is so weak as the democratic, its framework must be firmer, and its institutions must be studied to determine their degree of stability … unless this is done, we will have to reckon with an ungovernable, tumultuous, and anarchic society, not with a social order where happiness, peace, and justice prevail.

“Flee the country where a lone man holds all power: It is a nation of slaves.”

Simón Bolívar

Though there might be some published translation of such a statement, there is as yet no published source located for this, and it resembles the remark of Maximilien Robespierre, as quoted in Robespierre‎ (1935) by James Matthew Thompson, p. 135: "There is one thing more despicable than a tyrant — it is a nation of slaves."
Source: Archivo del Libertador https://web.archive.org/web/20170922093736/http://archivodellibertador.gob.ve/, document N° 565; Pérez Vila, Manuel (compilator, 2009), Simón Bolívar. Doctrina del Libertador, p. 45, ISBN 978-980-276-474-7. note: Second Republic of Venezuela (1814)

Country

“Let us give to our republic a fourth power with authority over the youth, the hearts of men, public spirit, habits, and republican morality. Let us establish this Areopagus to watch over the education of the children, to supervise national education, to purify whatever may be corrupt in the republic, to denounce ingratitude, coldness in the country's service, egotism, sloth, idleness, and to pass judgment upon the first signs of corruption and pernicious example.”

Simón Bolívar

As quoted in Rise of the Spanish-American Republics as Told in the Lives of their Liberators (1918) by William Spence Robertson, p. 239
The Angostura Address (1819)

Men , Children , Youth , Education