A dogmatic belief in objective value is necessary to the very idea of a rule which is not tyranny or an obedience which is not slavery.
C. S. LewisRead
'Useful,' and 'necessity' was always 'the tyrant's plea'.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that those in power often justify their actions by claiming they are beneficial or necessary.
C. S. Lewis's quote highlights a critical perspective on how tyrants and rulers often use the guise of utility and necessity to justify their oppressive actions. It points to the idea that when leaders label their decisions as 'useful' or 'essential', it should raise skepticism as these are common rhetorical tools used to legitimize tyranny rather than genuine concern for the public.
Themes
TyrannyUtilityNecessityAuthorityPower
In practice
Example use cases
During a lecture on political philosophy, you might use this quote to discuss the ethics of leadership.
More from C. S. Lewis
All quotes βI enjoyed my breakfast this morning, and I think that was a good thing and do not think it was condemned by God. But I do not think myself a good man for enjoying it.
C. S. LewisRead
Aim at heaven and you will get earth thrown in. Aim at earth and you get neither.
C. S. LewisRead
Forgiving and being forgiven are two names for the same thing. The important thing is that a discord has been resolved.
C. S. LewisRead
I pray because I can't help myself. I pray because I'm helpless. It doesn't change God - it changes me.
C. S. LewisRead
The instrument through which you see God is your whole self. And if a man's self is not kept clean and bright, his glimpse of God will be blurred
C. S. LewisRead
Similar quotes
To ask "Where in your brain is intelligence?" is like asking "Where is the voice in the radio?"
Howard GardnerRead
I would rather sleep in the southern corner of a little country churchyard than in the tomb of the Capulets.
Edmund BurkeRead
Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built on the ruins of the bowers of paradise.
Thomas PaineRead
Out of the Indian approach to life there came a great freedom, an intense and absorbing respect for life, enriching faith in a Supreme Power, and principles of truth, honesty, generosity, equity, and brotherhood as a guide to mundane relations.
Black ElkRead
It has been hard to muster the resources to support fledgling democracies and to intervene on behalf of the most desperate. The AIDS orphans in Uganda, the refugee fleeing Zimbabwe, the young woman who has been trafficked into the sex trade in Southeast Asia. It has been hard, yet this assistance together with the compassionate work of private charities, people of conscience and people of faith, has shown the soul of our country.
Condoleezza RiceRead
The uncontested absurdities of today are the accepted slogans of tomorrow. They come to be accepted by degrees, by dint of constant pressure on one side and constant retreat on the other - until one day when they are suddenly declared to be the country's official ideology.
Ayn RandRead