It is a paradox that every dictator has climbed to power on the ladder of free speech. Immediately on attaining power each dictator has suppressed all free speech except his own.
PoliticsFreedomDemocracyDictatorshipFree speechHypocrisyPower
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Dictators often rise using free speech, then silence others once in power.
- In plain terms
- Leaders who gain power through free speech often stop others from speaking freely.
- What can you take from it?
- Power can corrupt the very freedoms that enabled its rise.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How do you protect free speech when power shifts?
- Why do freedoms erode after victory?
Another view
Not all leaders who gain power this way become dictators.
More from Herbert Hoover
In the great mass of our people there are plenty individuals of intelligence from among whom leadership can be recruited.
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