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Quote#Politics & Power

We have not two measures for the virtues of the governed and those of…

Quote byPeter Kropotkin · 1842–1921

Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Anarchism: Its Philosophy and Ideal (1896).

English (original)

We have not two measures for the virtues of the governed and those of the governors; we know that we ourselves are not without faults and that the best of us would soon be corrupted by the exercise of power. We take men for what they are worth — and that is why we hate the government of man by man, and that we work with all our might — perhaps not strong enough — to put an end to it.

— Peter Kropotkin

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