Skip to content
quotesby

About this quote

What does it mean?
Political murders do not fundamentally shift the course of history.
In plain terms
Assassinations do not change history.
What can you take from it?
Systemic issues matter more than individual deaths.

Where it applies

  • analyzing revolutions
  • studying history
  • policy work

Putting it to work

  • focus on systems
  • address root causes

Questions to consider

  • Does removing a leader solve problems?
  • What truly changes history?

Another view

Assassinations can trigger immediate upheaval.

More from Benjamin Disraeli

  1. What is the question now placed before society with the glib assurance which to me is most astonishing? That question is this: Is man an ape or an angel? I, my…

    Permalink to quote #32
  2. In the character of the victim [Lincoln], and even in the accessories of his last moments, there is something so homely and innocent that it takes the question…

    Permalink to quote #34
  3. The characteristic of the present age is craving credulity.

    Permalink to quote #31

Related quotes

  1. The majority of revolutions are shaped by, and derive their originality from, murder.

    Albert CamusAlbert Camus quote #203
  2. The hippies, who had never really believed they were the wave of the future anyway, saw the election results as brutal confirmation of the futility of fighting…

    Hunter S. ThompsonHunter S. Thompson quote #1
  3. We were about to board the planes for the flight back to the United States. Jim Jones didn't want us to leave, at least not alive. A tractor trailer loaded wit…

    Jackie SpeierJackie Speier quote #1