“We are not philosophers, we are sovereigns. The rules that govern our behavior are not the rules for other men, and our honor, I think, is a different thing entirely, difficult for anyone but the historians and the gods to judge.”
Source: A Conspiracy of Kings
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Megan Whalen Turner95
American children's writer 1965Related quotes
“We don't pay judges to think; we pay judges to rule on the law.”
Jeff Sessions (1946) Former United States Attorney General
Regarding judicial activism while debating on the Senate floor on 06 June 2005 regarding the nomination of Janice Rogers Brown to the federal judiciary.
Attributed
Hans Kelsen (1881–1973) Austrian lawyer
General Theory of Law and State (1949), I. The Concept of Law, A. Law and Justice, a. Human Behavior as the Objects of Rules
Trinny Woodall (1964) English fashion advisor and designer, television presenter and author
As quoted in "Mistresses of the makeover" by Cathrin Schaer in New Zealand Herald http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=182&objectid=10493332&pnum=2 (25 February 2008)
Texe Marrs (1944–2019) American writer
The text by Texe Marrs titled "All Hail the Jewish Master Race" was published before 2004 https://web.archive.org/web/20031217191553/http://texemarrs.com/112003/jewish_master_race.htm (allegedly 25 November 2003 https://web.archive.org/web/20031205052353/http://www.rense.com/general45/master.htm) and claimed "In his memoirs of his years in the White House, former President Jimmy Carter wrote that there could have been peace between the Arabs and the Israelis had it not been for the bigoted, Nazi-like racial views of Israeli's Prime Minister Menachem Begin. Begin, Carter recalled, believed the Jews were a Master Race, a holy people superior to Egyptians and Arabs." No source is provided regarding the Jimmy Carter claim. <br class="br">Misattributed to Menachem Begin. Attributed in page 208 of Oil Crisis by Colin John Campbell in 2005 https://books.google.ca/books?id=VaGCbpbzjRwC&pg=PA208
Robert E. Lee (1807–1870) Confederate general in the Civil War
"Memoirs of Robert E. Lee" by A. L. Long (1886)
1870s
“Men must be governed by God or they will be ruled by tyrants.”
William Penn (1644–1718) English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, early Quaker and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania
This has been quoted as Penn's in various forms since at least 1943 (Fulton J. Sheen, Philosophies at War, p. 154). James H Billington of the Library of Congress wrote (Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations, 2010, p. 145) "Numerous sources cite this remark but it has not been found in Penn's writings." Other variants include:
Unless we are governed by God, we shall be ruled by tyrants. (1949 speech by Norman Vincent Peale)
If men do not find God to rule them, they will be ruled by tyrants. (Roy Masters, How to Conquer Suffering Without Doctors, 1976, p. 50)
... those who will not be governed by God will be ruled by tyrants. (David Barton, The Myth of Separation, 1992, p. 89
Misattributed
Kent Hovind (1953) American young Earth creationist
Dissertation for doctor of philosophy in christian education (May 25, 1991)
Jeremiah Denton (1924–2014) American Vietnam War POW and politician
Operation Homecoming celebration, (Feb. 12, 1973)
Samuel Bowles (1939) American economist
Source: Understanding Capitalism: Competition, Command, and Change, 2005, p. 202