Quotes on Pretext

The means of defence against foreign danger have been always the instruments of tyranny at home. Among the Romans it was a standing maxim to excite a war, whenever a revolt was apprehended. Throughout all Europe, the armies kept up under the pretext of defending, have enslaved the people.

Words are a pretext. It is the inner bond that draws one person to another, not words.

Hatred is the vice of narrow souls; they feed it with all their littleness, and make it the pretext of base tyrannies.