“People ask about dictators, "Why?" But dictators themselves ask, "Why not?"”
As quoted in "Is Putin Popular?" https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/03/is-putin-popular-c/ (2018), by Jay Nordlinger, National Review
2010s
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Garry Kasparov 61
former chess world champion 1963Related quotes
Episode from a Practice or A Doctor's Visit (1898)
“I have a sour face. Maybe that's why they say I'm a dictator.”
Speech (24 April 1986), quoted in "Las frases para el bronce de Pinochet."
1980s
“Why did people ask "What is it about?" as if a novel had to be about only one thing.”
Source: Americanah (2013)
“Why do you think that at 67 I would start a career as a dictator?”
Pourquoi voulez-vous qu'à 67 ans je commence une carrière de dictateur ?
Press conference, May 19 1958 (De Gaulle was changing the constitution to make government more efficient, after decades of impotent parliamentary regime, and he mocked journalists who claimed he was establishing a dictatorship).
Fifth Republic and other post-WW2
Cf. Bernard Shaw, Back to Methuselah (1921), Pt. I : In the Beginning: I hear you say "Why?" Always "Why?" You see things; and you say "Why?" But I dream things that never were; and I say "Why not?"
Books, Brain Droppings (1997)
Variant: Some people dream of things that never were and ask, Why not? Some people have to go to work and don't have time for all that shit.
(1908) Bohdan Urbankowski, Józef Piłsudski: Dreamer and Strategist, 1997, ISBN 8370019145, p. 133
Attributed
“People are always asking about the good old days. I say, why don't you say the good now days?”
Robert M. Young, quoted in: Rebekah Hennes (2008), Breathe, p. 120