Line #22 Quotes/DespotismJustifiesTheMeans


1	->''"The Party seeks power entirely for its own sake. We are not interested in the good of others; we are interested solely in power. Not wealth or luxury or long life or happiness: only power, pure power. What pure power means you will understand presently. We are different from all the oligarchies of the past, in that we know what we are doing. All the others, even those who resembled ourselves, were cowards and hypocrites. The German Nazis and the Russian Communists came very close to us in their methods, but they never had the courage to recognize their own motives. They pretended, perhaps they even believed, that they had seized power unwillingly and for a limited time, and that just round the corner there lay a paradise where human beings would be free and equal. We are not like that. We know that no one ever seizes power with the intention of relinquishing it. Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power."''
2	-->--'''O'Brien''', ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''
3
4	->''"He would see this kingdom burn if he could be king of the ashes."''
5	-->--'''Lord Varys''' about Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish, ''Series/GameOfThrones''
6
7	->''"Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heaven."''
8	-->--''Literature/ParadiseLost''
9
10	->'''Superman:''' Evil never wins!\
11	'''Black Adam:''' Control is not evil!
12	-->-- ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs''
13
14	->'''Tails:''' But the more your monster tears through time, the more damage you do to the world!\
15	'''Eggman:''' The world? I'm going to ''own'' the world once I'm finished with Sonic!
16	-->--''VideoGame/SonicGenerations''
17
18	->''"Finally, with the energy collected from [[LifeDrain the Extractor]], I can rule the world! [[LackOfEmpathy Pity about the damage done down there]], but there's still enough left for me to conquer."''
19	-->-- '''Dr. Eggman''', ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld''
20
21	->'''Infinite:''' We move forward with the plan?\
22	'''Eggman:''' Of course! When it's complete, the Resistance will be erased. The world will be nothing but ashes, from which a glorious Eggman Empire will rise!
23	-->--''VideoGame/SonicForces''
24
25	->''"[[TakeOverTheWorld I'm going to enslave humanity]] and force them to service my machines. First, Green Hills. Then [[DimensionLord the universe]]. Then [[MultiversalConqueror the multiverse]]. [[AndThenWhat Then who knows? Maybe that'll be enough.]] Full disclosure: '''you won't be there.'''"''
26	-->-- '''Dr. Robotnik''', ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog22022''
27
28	->''"You don't seem to realize my situation here. I will not be stopped! Not by you, or the Confederates, or the Protoss, or anyone! I will rule this sector, or see it burnt to ashes around me!"''
29	-->--'''Arcturus Mengsk''', ''VideoGame/StarCraftI: Rebel Yell -- The Hammer Falls''
30
31	->''"The doctrine of your unholy trinity --\
32	The violence, the spite and the enslavement --\
33	You awesome monarch, you man of dominance,\
34	All shall be as you decide."''
35	-->-- '''Music/{{Meshuggah}}''', "Behind the Sun"
36
37	->''"There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it..."''
38	-->-- '''Lord Voldemort''', ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone''
39
40	->''"Why contain [[ThePlague it]]? Let it spill over the schools and churches, let the bodies pile up in the streets. In the end they'll'' beg ''us to save them.\
41	...\
42	We've had to endure much, you and I, but soon there will be order again. A new age. Aquinas spoke of the mythical city on the hill; soon that city will be real and we will be crowned its kings. Or, better than kings... [[GodhoodSeeker Gods]]!"''
43	-->-- '''Bob Page''', ''VideoGame/DeusEx''
44
45	->'''[[ArchnemesisDad Tarquin]]:''' You're a bard, right? How many stories have you heard in which a single hero vanquishes a [[TheEmpire wicked empire]]?\
46	'''[[QuirkyBard Elan]]:''' I dunno... dozens, I guess.\
47	'''Tarquin:''' What is the one thing they all have in common? The one fact they all share?\
48	'''Elan:''' [[TheGoodGuysAlwaysWin The hero always wins]]!\
49	'''Tarquin:''' [[TheBadGuyWins Arguable]]. No, the one thing they all have in common is this: The wicked empire exists. It has existed for some time, and it will continue to exist if no heroes intervene. Don't you see, Elan? [[TheoryOfNarrativeCausality The rules of drama to which you subscribe as a bard]] tell us that such tyrannies can exist -- indeed, MUST exist -- and persist long enough that no one realistically thinks that they can be defeated. Else, where's the drama in a hero opposing them? And if such kingdoms are necessary, [[EvilOverlord why shouldn't I rule one]]?\
50	'''Elan:''' But a hero always DOES oppose them! And beats them!\
51	'''Tarquin:''' You know, Elan, you can't always fixate on the negative. You should try being more optimistic. If someone conquers an empire and rules it with an iron fist for thirty long years, and then some paladin breaks into his throne room and kills him -- what do you think he's going to remember as he lays dying?\
52	'''Elan:''' ...That good triumphed over evil?\
53	'''Tarquin:''' No, that [[EvilFeelsGood he got to live like a god for three decades]]! Sure the last ten minutes sucked, but you can't have everything.\
54	'''Elan:''' But in the end --\
55	'''Tarquin:''' The end of what, son? The story? There is no end, there's just the point where the storytellers stop talking. Somewhere between "villain of the week" and "good triumphs over evil", there's a sweet spot where guys like me get to rule the roost for years. As long as I go into this accepting the price I may eventually pay, then [[XanatosGambit I win — no matter what actually happens.]]
56	-->--''WebComic/TheOrderOfTheStick''
57
58	->''"I care only about complete domination, a world united under one rule. My rule."''
59	-->--'''Commander 31''', ''VideoGame/Battlefield2ModernCombat''
60
61	->''"Terror must be maintained or TheEmpire is doomed."''

Context Quotes / DespotismJustifiesTheMeans