Top 100 A Monarchy Quotes
#2. A monarchy is like a man-of-war
bad shots between wind and water hurt it exceedingly; there is danger of capsizing. But democracy is a raft. You cannot easily overturn it. It is a wet place, but it is a pretty safe one.
Joseph Cook
#3. Well, when did this become a monarchy? You know, we are the people. The president works for us and, you know, we need to remember that.
Ben Carson
#4. A monarchy is a merchantman which sails well, but will sometimes strike on a rock, and go to the bottom; a republic is a raft which will never sink, but then your feet are always in the water.
Fisher Ames
#5. How can a republic be the best form of government if the universe, heaven and hell are all a monarchy?
Alan W. Watts
#6. The state is nothing but an instrument of opression of one class by another - no less so in a democratic republic than in a monarchy.
Friedrich Engels
#7. Europeans are forever the offspring of Machiavelli, trapped in a historical rollercoaster that can bring us a monarchy-toppling French Revolution and then a few years later Napoleon Bonaparte as emperor.
Loretta Napoleoni
#8. [It was] better to set up a monarchy themselves than to suffer a sedition to continue that must certainly end in one.
Plutarch
#9. Power always becomes consolidated back into the hands of very few people ... whether they be an economic aristocracy, a royalty, a monarchy which is the most concentrated form of oligarchy where it depends on one King who is ordained supposedly by God to rule.
Immortal Technique
#10. As virtue is necessary in a republic, and honor in a monarchy, fear is what is required in a despotism. As for virtue, it is not at all necessary, and honor would be dangerous there.
Baron De Montesquieu
#11. A lady asked Dr. Franklin Well Doctor what have we got a republic or a monarchy - "A republic," replied the Doctor, "if you can keep it."
Benjamin Franklin
#12. Outside Independence Hall when the Constitutional Convention of 1787 ended, Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, "Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?" With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, "A republic, if you can keep it."
Benjamin Franklin
#13. The people under our system, like the king in a monarchy, never dies.
Martin Van Buren
#14. Human rights can only be assured among a virtuous people. The general government ... can never be in danger of degenerating into a monarchy, an oligarchy, an aristocracy, or any despotic or oppresive form so long as there is any virtue in the body of the people.
George Washington
#16. How could you say the best form of government is a republic if you think the universe is a monarchy?
Alan Watts
#17. There is a peculiar contradiction in trying to be a member of a republic while believing that the universe is a monarchy.
Alan Watts
#19. The trappings of a monarchy would set up an ordinary commonwealth.
Samuel Johnson
#20. It is necessary that I should qualify the doctrine of its being not men, but measures, that I am determined to support. In a monarchy it is the duty of parliament to look at the men as well as at the measures.
Henry Brougham, 1st Baron Brougham And Vaux
#21. Most people think that there is a monarchy, where God is the king and we are the subjects, and the subjects are inferior to this invisible king. But not only are we inferior, we are also stained by sin, and therefore, untrustworthy.
Wayne Dyer
#22. How can a monarchy be a suitable thing, which allows a man to do as he pleases with none to hold him to account. And even if you were to take the best man on earth, and put him into a monarchy, you put outside him the thoughts that usually guide him.
Herodotus
#23. To recommend a monarchy on account of the prosperity it gives the provinces seems to me like recommending that a man should have liberty to treat his children as slaves, if at the same time he treats his slaves with reasonable consideration.
Robert Graves
#24. Just as an individual of pre-eminent worth transforms democracy into a monarchy of the best man, even so the rule of one man, if in all things it has an eye to the common welfare, is democracy.
Apollonius Of Tyana
#25. If we incline too much to democracy, we shall soon shoot into a monarchy.
Alexander Hamilton
#26. Every business is a monarchy with, not a man, but an idea as king.
Henry Ford
#27. A monarchy is the most expensive of all forms of government, the regal state requiring a costly parade, and he who depends on his own power to rule, must strengthen that power by bribing the active and enterprising whom he cannot intimidate.
James F. Cooper
#28. If a nation does not want a monarchy, change the nations mind. If a nation does not need a monarchy, change the nations needs.
Jan Smuts
#29. A monarchy conducted with infinite wisdom and infinite benevolence is the most perfect of all possible governments.
Ezra Stiles
#30. Strip the human race, absolutely naked, and it would be a real democracy. But the introduction of even a rag of tiger skin, or a cowtail, could make a badge of distinction and be the beginning of a monarchy.
Mark Twain
#31. From a monarchy followed by suffering under Communism, Ethiopians must be given the opportunity to flourish under the greatest of systems - democracy.
Jack Kingston
#32. When Alexander had subdued the world, and wept that none were left to dispute his arms, his tears were an involuntary tribute to a monarchy that he knew not, man's empire over himself.
Jane Porter
#33. When we get to Heaven, we can try a monarchy, perhaps." John Hay
John Taliaferro
#34. Unity in wills cannot be unless there is one will dominating and ruling all the rest to oneness ... wills of mortals have need of a directive principle ... therefore for the well-being of the world, there should be a monarchy.
Dante Alighieri
#35. One advantage of a monarchy is that a monarchy does not suffer the effects of having great clots of white Christians moping around simply because they aren't the king or queen.
Calvin Trillin
#36. The best reason why Monarchy is a strong government is, that it is an intelligible government. The mass of mankind understand it, and they hardly anywhere in the world understand any other.
Walter Bagehot
#37. [M]onarchy was, or ought to be, not so much absolute as mitigated by the principle of ius politicum, supporting a mixed polity partaking of elements both royal and political, which is to say, popular and representative.
Patrick Collinson
#38. A nation is truly corrupted when having ... lost its character and it's liberty, it passes from democracy to aristocracy or to monarchy. That is the decrepitude and death of the body politic ...
Maximilien De Robespierre
#39. Citizenship is what makes a republic - monarchies can get along without it.
Mark Twain
#40. The idea that each corporation can be a feudal monarchy and yet behave in its corporate action like a democratic citizen concerned for the world we live in is one of the great absurdities of our time -
Kim Stanley Robinson
#41. Films about the English monarchy, they tend to have a lavishness, sumptuous imagery, it's all very posh and rich.
Tom Hooper
#42. One of the strongest natural proofs of the folly of hereditary right in kings, is, that nature disapproves it, otherwise, she would not so frequently turn it into ridicule by giving mankind an ass for a lion.
Thomas Paine
#43. What royal families are very good at doing is surviving and reinventing themselves. That's true whether it's a constitutional monarchy in Britain or an authoritarian monarchy.
Robert Lacey
#44. All groups are a little intimidated by ya show of power. I mean who ever thought the monarchy was dead didn't realize it changed zip codes. - Cross
Mira Monroe
#45. It's very easy to just shout: 'Off with their heads!' Maybe in doing that you might lose something very valuable. I would like to see the monarchy continue, but in a more democratic fashion.
Helen Mirren
#46. You can't start with a democracy. You have to work up through stuff like tyranny and monarchy first. That way people are so relived when they get to democracy that they hang on to it.
John Steinbeck
#47. Once more, I am watching the most powerful men in the kingdom bring their power to bear on a woman who has done nothing worse than live to the beat of her own heart, see with her own eyes; but this is not their tempo nor their vision and they cannot tolerate any other.
Philippa Gregory
#48. With a few exceptions, conservative Christian political activists are as ineffective as White Russian exiles, drinking tea from samovars in their Paris drawing rooms, plotting the restoration of the monarchy. One wishes them well but knows deep down that they are not the future.
Rod Dreher
#49. I simply make this point, that the monarchy in so far, as it is identified with what is, in my opinion, an obsolete class structure, is making a mistake, and the task of those who are responsible for the conduct of the monarchical institution is to detach it from that class structure.
Malcolm Muggeridge
#50. The worst that can happen under monarchy is rule by a single imbecile, but democracy often means the rule by an assembly of three or four hundred imbeciles.
Robert Anton Wilson
#51. I've spent a bit of time with the Prince of Wales, who I respect greatly. I'd give two cheers for the Monarchy.
Sting
#52. Americans also seem to believe that the monarchy is a kind of mediaeval hangover, encumbered by premodern notions of decorum; the reality is that the British monarchy, for good or ill, is a modern political institution perhaps the first modern political institution.
Adam Gopnik
#53. I respect the British a lot - their history, their past, their culture. I think it's beautiful, what they have with the monarchy.
Jean-Marc Vallee
#54. High school is neither a democracy nor a dictatorship - nor, contrary to popular belief, an anarchic state. High school is a divine-right monarchy. And when the queen goes on vacation, things change.
John Green
#55. There is not a power in Europe, no not even Bonaparte's that is so unlimited [as the British monarchy].
Charles James Fox
#56. Boy," Chade remarked quietly. "Never pretend we are anything but what we are. Assassins. Not merciful agents of a wise king. Political assassins dealing death for the furtherance of our monarchy. That is what we are.
Robin Hobb
#57. The monarchy is finished. It was finished a while ago, but they're still making the corpses dance.
Sue Townsend
#58. The Emperor Napoleon, ascending gradually from his post of national magistrate to seat himself upon a throne without limits, seems to have wished to punish, as for the abuse of republican reforms, by making us feel all the weight of absolute monarchy.
Marquis De Lafayette
#59. My father established the first women's university in the kingdom, abolished slavery, and tried to establish a constitutional monarchy that separates the position of king from that of prime minister.
Basmah Bint Saud
#60. Democracy ... while it lasts is more bloody than either aristocracy or monarchy. Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There is never a democracy that did not commit suicide.
John Adams
#61. I'm not a republican any more. Not so voraciously anyway - I'm not in favour of the concept of monarchy, but I do see the good in it if there's a good person in the role.
Helen Mirren
#62. Saudia Arabia takes in half a trillion dollars every year in oil revenue, and the country has a population smaller than New York state, but when your system of government is an eleventh century monarchy, someone's going to end up poor, and it's not gonna be the guy whose first name is King.
Craig Ferguson
#63. The monarchy is a part of the state. It exists to serve the people.
Heather Brooke
#64. When it comes to the British monarchy, I prefer to be seduced by an image than presented with a real person. It's kind of a Warhol thing.
Damien Hirst
#65. Why doesn't the United States take over the monarchy and unite with England? England does have important assets. Naturally the longer you wait, the more they will dwindle. At least you could use it for a summer resort instead of Maine.
W. H. Auden
#66. We could have a political movement going if it had been properly organized but the Monarchy's done itself enormous damage possibly beyond the point of long-term recovery.
Anthony Holden
#67. I'd like to see a much more open Monarchy, myself. I used to think they were completely useless and we should get rid of them. I don't necessarily feel that way anymore. I'm still ambivalent, I still loathe the British class system, and the Royal family are the apex of the British class system.
Helen Mirren
#68. You put the small thief in prison, but the big thief lives in a palace.
Graham Greene
#69. Then this will only prove again and again, that Monarchy in Germany is he longer capable of a national act.
Ferdinand Lassalle
#70. It's like a rugby team. If you're picking for the World Cup final, you're picking experience with youth. Everything is better off having that balance and that mix. I think that, especially, goes for the monarchy as well.
Prince William
#71. I think the relation between the monarchy and the press is very much a two-way street.
Anthony Holden
#72. How remorseless must one be find pleasure in riding a Wilhelmina golden coach in the 21st century.
Dauglas Dauglas
#73. We stand a better chance with aristocracy, whether hereditary or elective, than with monarchy.
Ezra Stiles
#74. The truth unquestionably is, that the only path to a subversion of the republican system of the Country is, by flattering the prejudices of the people, and exciting their jealousies and apprehensions, to throw affairs into confusion, and bring on civil commotion.
Alexander Hamilton
#75. The politics of the Essays preach a conservatism natural in one who aspired to rule. Bacon wants a strong central power. Monarchy is the best form of government; and usually the efficiency of a state varies with the concentration of power.
Will Durant
#76. I'm not a great fan of monarchy in general, but I have to say the Danish monarchy is closer to the people; it's not as stuffy as the English one.
Viggo Mortensen
#77. Dynamic, rapidly expanding European monarchy seeks a can-do visionary to head up its South American divisions.Our ideal candidate will have at least five years' experience in New World colonization and be willing to accept shift work. Fluency in Spanish an asset.Some travel involved
Christopher Columbus
#78. With kings and queens inside his bag. Hulaki was a man of power.
Mahesh Poudyal
#79. Good only for destruction - has destroyed all that was valuable in the monarchy - is destroying France with daemonic energy - this tawdry, theatrical empire - a deeply vulgar man - nothing French about him - insane ambition - the whole world one squalid tyranny. His infamous treatment of the Pope!
Patrick O'Brian
#80. Where men are forbidden to honour a king they honour millionaires, athletes, or film-stars instead: even famous prostitutes or gangsters. For spiritual nature, like bodily nature, will be served; deny it food and it will gobble poison.
C.S. Lewis
#81. It seems to me that Sotheby's is very much like the British monarchy: an old and apparently very venerable institution which is in fact very nimble on its feet, an institution invested with a great deal more self-interest than the public image would suggest.
Robert Lacey
#82. For monarchy to work, one man must be wise. For democracy to work, a majority of the people must be wise. Which is more likely?
Charles Maurras
#83. If you aim at a Scottish presbytery, it agreeth as well with monarchy, as God and the devil ... No bishop, no King! I will make them conform themselves, or else I will harry them out of the land, or else do worse.
King James I
#84. Countries that managed to rebuild commanding state structures after popular nationalist revolutions - such as China, Vietnam, and Iran - look stable and cohesive when compared with a traditional monarchy such as Thailand or wholly artificial nation-states like Iraq and Syria.
Pankaj Mishra
#85. Saudi Arabia is a frightened monarchy. It's beset by Sunni extremists from the Islamic State and Shiite extremists backed by Iran.
David Ignatius
#86. The private life of one man shall be a more illustrious monarchy,
more formidable to its enemy, more sweet and serene in its influence to its friend, than any kingdom in history. For a man, rightly viewed, comprehendeth the particular natures of all men.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
#87. [T]here [is] no limit to what might not be achieved by an alliance between an imperial monarchy and revelations, if truly believed to be heaven-sent, of a prophet.
Tom Holland
#89. For every monarchy overthrown the sky becomes less brilliant, because it loses a star. A republic is ugliness set free.
Anatole France
#90. How could the eagle-eyed politicians of The Hague, who specialized in pointing out the tiniest specks in other people's eyes, overlook someone riding a racist coach in their own neighborhood?
Dauglas Dauglas
#91. I was hoping to do an impressionist painting, but I wanted a good likeness and I wanted to create a feeling of the lady as a person, as a human being rather than as a figurehead for the monarchy and a pomp-and-circumstance sort of formal portrait. I wanted more of a relaxed portrait.
Rolf Harris
#92. Stripped of monarchy and magic spells, he was just a man in a mad world looking for the girl who shared his heart.
Alethea Kontis
#93. Men write many fine and plausible arguments in support of monarchy, but the fact remains that where every man has a voice, brutal laws are impossible
Mark Twain
#94. When [Servius Galba] was a commoner he seemed too big for his station, and had he never been emperor, no one would have doubted his ability to reign.
Tacitus
#95. value of monarchy as a conciliatory, if waning, force in European politics.
Charles Emmerson
#96. What is called a republic, is not any particular form of government ... it is naturally opposed to the word monarchy, which means arbitrary power.
Thomas Paine
#97. I mean that man is ruled by a tyrant whose name is Ignorance, and that is the tyrant I sought to overthrow. That is the tyrant which gave birth to monarchy, and monarchy is authority based on falsehood, whereas knowledge is authority based on truth. Man should be ruled by knowledge.
Victor Hugo
#98. The monarchy is foremost a business, and it's important to them that the British public continue to finance the excessive luxurious lifestyles of the now quite enormous, wasteful and useless 'royal' family. I find it very sad.
Morrissey
#99. A democracy cannot rule an empire. Neither can one man, though empire may appear to presuppose monarchy. There is always an oligarchy somewhere, open or concealed.
Ronald Syme
#100. There was no doubt that in the early and mid-eighties that many of us in broadsheet newspapers felt that we still had a responsibility to try to protect the Royal Family or if you like protect the Monarchy from the assaults of the media.
Max Hastings
