Quotes tagged with "politics" (best)

Himeno: To be honest with you, everybody's getting pretty worn down.
[...]
Power: I'm bored, so I was thinking up a Nobel Prizewinning invention! If I win a Nobel Prize, humans will grovel before me! And then I'll use my Nobel Prize as a steppingstone to become prime minister! I want to watch humans suffer... So my first act as prime minister will be to implement a 100 percent sales tax!
Denji: She seems the same as always to me.
Himeno: Oh. That's... good then.

Yang Wen-li: The Empire, with a few nobles ruling the masses, is bad government. The Alliance, with a government chosen by the people, is badly governed. Which one do you think is wrong?

Yang Wen-li: Has there been some change in the government again? I'd be overjoyed if they told me the Chairman was dead.

Yang Wen-li: By causing a big storm and hiding during the storm, he's never been damaged himself. Before you know it, he'll be exercising even more authority. The thought leaves me panic stricken. And then, I had a nasty thought. What good is democracy if it gives power to a man like that?

Yang Wen-li: If the defence of our homeland and self-sacrifice are as necessary as you say, before you tell other people do "do this and that", how about if you actually do it yourselves?

Yang Wen-li: Dictatorship itself isn't absolutely evil, it's just another form of government. The point is how you can run it for the benefit of society.

Reinhard von Lohengramm: From here on, my battle is not just a matter for the battlefield. Political struggles. Imperial Court struggles. To avoid complications, both unending deceit and murder may be necessary.

Reinhard von Lohengramm: I cannot lose to anyone. People admire and stay loyal to me because I'm undefeated. I'm not supported because of my bloodline.

Enrique Oliveira: Peace and freedom, lacking a sense of tension, cause people to degenerate. It's war that gives people a sense of vitality. War is what makes civilizations advance, and psychologically elevates people! Prolonged periods of peace and freedom will only decrease the vitality in an already decadent age. Doesn't your precious history proves that?
Yang Wen-li: What a wonderful observation. If only there was no one who had lost their life or family to war then maybe I'd even come to believe it. For people who prefer to take advantage of war and try to establish their on profit on other peoples' sacrifices, it's an unusually fascinating idea. And for people who show false patriotism to deceive other people as well.

Reinhard von Lohengramm: What criminals need is neither diplomacy nor persuasion. They have neither the ability nor the intention to understand. Only force will enlighten their foolishness.

Reinhard von Lohengramm: What do they think people are? Assuming it's a matter of course to rule over them. Stealing from people and insulting people... yet they say it's their privilege to be forgiven?! Those people are corrupt! This empire is corrupt!

Walter von Schönkopf: If the majority of the citizens wish dictatorship instead of democracy, how do you solve such a paradox?

Alexander Bucock: I think it's correct for democratic nations to restrict the power of soldiers. Soldiers shouldn't wield power or authority when they aren't on the battlefield. Also, democracy can't be healthy when the military grows fat by not accepting the criticisms of the government or society thus turning into a nation within a nation.

Yang Wen-li: In reality, it's dictatorship rather than democracy that drastically advances government reforms. But I think humanity ought to avoid being united by a dictatorship. While it's true Duke Lohengramm might have that talent, what about his descendants? His heir? Rulers aren't necessarily wise through generations. He's like a miracle which could happen only once every few centuries. I don't think the entire human race should be ruled by a system where everything depends on one person's character.

Reinhard von Lohengramm: I won't take their lives. If when they've grown, they attack me, that's fine. It's to be expected that supreme rulers without real power are overthrown, you see. The same goes for all of you. When you're prepared to overthrow me yourselves, come challenge me, I don't care.

Yang Wen-li: Strange, isn't it? Liking an enemy commander better than our own politicians.

Walter von Schönkopf: Whether in the Empire or the Alliance, corruption in the military is the same.

Yang Wen-li: To me, political power is like sewage. You can't do without it, but it's not something you want to approach.

Alexander Bucock: The Alliance should die as a democracy rather than become a dictatorship to survive.

Yang Wen-li: For those who have come to power, wealth and glory not by their own strength and effort, but simply through inheritance, what right do they have to complain? The very existence of such blood-lineage dynasties is disgusting. Power is the property of one generation. It shouldn't be transferred, it should be seized.

Alexander Bucock: Commodore Fork! You're being rude. Accusing anyone who questions your ideas, or advises caution, of aiding the enemy – that's impolite.

Yang Wen-li: The nation that neglects social inequality, mischievously increases military budgets, and then uses its power internally to suppress the citizens on the pretext of invasion by an external enemy is on the road to extinction.

Alexander Bucock: The life of the Alliance is at an end! Its politicians who toy with power. It's opportunistic soldiers... No, its citizens have turned over rulership to politicians, instead of participating in it! The people have democratic principles on their lips, but can't spare the effort to safeguard them! The collapse of a government is the sin of its rulers and leaders. The collapse of democratic rule is the sin of every citizen!

Paul von Oberstein: The Goldenbaum dynasty must fall. Then, after that, there is nobody other than your Excellency who can build a new empire.

Walter von Schönkopf: If the dictatorship is bad, it's up to the citizens to correct it.

Huang Rui: Our Alliance seems to be faced with a very hard to answer dilemma. Which do we want, a corrupt democracy or a pure dictatorship? Which has more justice and order?

Gene Smilas: The dictatorship of one talented man is more beneficial to humanity than the democracy of the ignorant masses.

Daikichi Nakaoka: Whenever the military grabs political power, the world becomes a dark, terrifying place.