---
title: "2 Authoritarians Quotes By Timothy Snyder"
description: "2 Authoritarians quotes by Timothy Snyder. Plus more from Timothy Snyder and more Authoritarians sayings from other authors."
image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e4/timothy-snyder-882_authoritarianism_when-political-leaders-set-a-negative-ex_1094212.jpg"
---

> [“When political leaders set a negative example, professional commitments to just practice become more important. It is hard to subvert a rule-of-law state without lawyers, or to hold show trials without judges. Authoritarians need obedient civil servants, and concentration camp…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/when-political-leaders-set-a-negative-example-professional/)

[Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/6e4/timothy-snyder-882_authoritarianism_when-political-leaders-set-a-negative-ex_1094212.jpg)

> [“The authoritarians of today are also terror managers, and if anything they are rather more creative. Consider the current Russian regime, so admired by the president. Vladimir Putin not only came to power in an incident that strikingly resembled the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/the-authoritarians-of-today-are-also-terror-managers-and-if-anything/)

[Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/)

[Image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/248/timothy-snyder-882_authoritarians_the-authoritarians-of-today-are-also-ter_2985676.jpg)

## More by Timothy Snyder

> [“Nationalism is relativist, since the only truth is the resentment we feel when we contemplate others.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/nationalism-is-relativist-since-the-only-truth-is-the-resentment-we/)

[Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/)

> [“The time is out of joint. O cursed spite,/That ever I was born to set it right!” Thus Hamlet. Yet he concludes: “Nay, come,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/the-time-is-out-of-joint-o-cursed-spite-that-ever-i-was-born-to-set/)

[Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/)

> [“the democracies that arose after the First World War (and the Second) often collapsed when a single party seized power in some combination of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/the-democracies-that-arose-after-the-first-world-war-and-the-second/)

[Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/)

> [“salami tactics—slicing off layers of opposition one by one. Most people were distracted, some were imprisoned, and others were outmatched.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/salami-tactics-slicing-off-layers-of-opposition-one-by-one-most/)

[Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/)

> [“We allowed ourselves to accept the politics of inevitability, the sense that history could move in only one direction: toward liberal democracy...We imbibed the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/we-allowed-ourselves-to-accept-the-politics-of-inevitability-the/)

[Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/)

> [“The key to this translation of ideology to politics in both cases was an effective appeal to human experience at the crucial time.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/the-key-to-this-translation-of-ideology-to-politics-in-both-cases-was/)

[Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/)

> [“Both of these positions, inevitability and eternity, are antihistorical. The only thing that stands between them is history itself. History allows us to see…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/both-of-these-positions-inevitability-and-eternity-are-antihistorical/)

[Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/)

> [“The whole notion of disruption is adolescent: It assumes that after the teenagers make a mess, the adults will come and clean it up.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/the-whole-notion-of-disruption-is-adolescent-it-assumes-that-after/)

[Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/)

> [“As she observed, “the first essential step on the road to total domination is to kill the juridical person in man.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/as-she-observed-the-first-essential-step-on-the-road-to-total/)

[Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/)

> [“The first mode is the open hostility to verifiable reality, which takes the form of presenting inventions and lies as if they were facts.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/the-first-mode-is-the-open-hostility-to-verifiable-reality-which/)

[Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/)

> [“Once we subliminally accept that we are watching a reality show rather than thinking about real life, no image can actually hurt the president…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/once-we-subliminally-accept-that-we-are-watching-a-reality-show/)

[Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/)

> [“Confidence in duration is the antidote to panic and the tonic of demagogy.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/confidence-in-duration-is-the-antidote-to-panic-and-the-tonic-of/)

[Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/)

> [“Be calm when the unthinkable arrives. Modern tyranny is terror management. When the terrorist attack comes, remember that authoritarians exploit such events in order…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/be-calm-when-the-unthinkable-arrives-modern-tyranny-is-terror/)

[Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/)

> [“Life is political, not because the world cares about how you feel, but because the world reacts to what you do. The minor choices…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/life-is-political-not-because-the-world-cares-about-how-you-feel-but/)

[Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/)

> [“Extremism' certainly sounds bad, and governments often try to make it sound worse by using the word 'terrorism' in the same sentence. But the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-snyder/extremism-certainly-sounds-bad-and-governments-often-try-to-make-it/)

[Timothy Snyder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-snyder/)

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