--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Tyranny brings ignorance and brutality…" description: "\"Tyranny brings ignorance and brutality with it. It degrades men from their just rank into the class of brutes; it damps their spirits; it suppresses ar..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/def/jonathan-mayhew-25167_ardor_tyranny-brings-ignorance-and-brutality-w_3027914.jpg" --- # Tyranny brings ignorance and brutality with it. It… ![“Tyranny brings ignorance and brutality with it. It degrades men from their just rank into the class of brutes; it damps their spirits; it suppresses art; it extinguishes every spark of noble ardor and generosity in the breasts of those who are enslaved by it; it makes naturally strong and great…” quote by Jonathan Mayhew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/def/jonathan-mayhew-25167_ardor_tyranny-brings-ignorance-and-brutality-w_3027914.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/def/jonathan-mayhew-25167_ardor_tyranny-brings-ignorance-and-brutality-w_3027914.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/def/jonathan-mayhew-25167_ardor_tyranny-brings-ignorance-and-brutality-w_3027914.jpg) > “Tyranny brings ignorance and brutality with it. It degrades men from their just rank into the class of brutes; it damps their spirits; it suppresses art; it extinguishes every spark of noble ardor and generosity in the breasts of those who are enslaved by it; it makes naturally strong and great minds feeble and little, and triumphs over the ruins of virtue and humanity.” [Jonathan Mayhew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-mayhew/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Describes how tyranny corrupts societies, suppresses art, and weakens moral character. **In simple terms:** Tyranny destroys virtue and humanity. Key Takeaway Resist oppressive power. Themes political theory morality freedom Mood serious reflective Type philosophical historical When to use this quote - historical analysis - modern authoritarianism - educational curricula Key Concepts despotism human dignity cultural decay Questions to Reflect On - What safeguards protect against tyranny? - How does art survive under oppression? A Different Perspective Complex causes of tyranny may be oversimplified. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Ardor](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ardor/) [Art](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/art/) [Breasts](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/breasts/) [Brutality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brutality/) [Brutality Degrades](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brutality-degrades-4933001/) [Brutes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/brutes/) [Class](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/class/) [Damp](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/damp/) [Degrade](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/degrade/) [Generosity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/generosity/) [Great minds](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/great-minds/) [Humanity](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/humanity/) [Ignorance](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ignorance/) [Ignorance Brutality](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ignorance-brutality-4933000/) [Littles](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/littles/) [Men](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/men/) [Mind](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/mind/) [Noble](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/noble/) [Psychology](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/psychology/) [Revolution](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/revolution/) [Ruins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ruins/) [Sparks](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/sparks/) [Spirit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/spirit/) [Strong](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/strong/) [Triumph](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/triumph/) [Tyranny](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tyranny/) [Tyranny Brings](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/tyranny-brings-4932999/) [Virtue](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/virtue/) ## Related quotes > [Cruelty to animals is one of the most significant vices of a low and ignoble people. Wherever one notices them, they constitute a sign…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/cruelty-to-animals-is-one-of-the-most-significant-vices-of-a-low-and-2/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [Without wishing to damp the ardor of curiosity or influence the freedom of inquiry, I will hazard a prediction that, after the most industrious…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-adams/without-wishing-to-damp-the-ardor-of-curiosity-or-influence-the/) [John Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-adams/) > [He who wishes to fight must first count the cost. 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Full to the brim with humor, heartbreak, and ravishing romance. Richard Linklater directs with ardor…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-travers/before-midnight-is-one-of-the-years-best-movies-full-to-the-brim-with/) [Peter Travers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-travers/) > [Always man needs woman for his friend. He needs her clearer vision, her subtler insight, her softer thought, her winged soul, her pure and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-c-ames/always-man-needs-woman-for-his-friend-he-needs-her-clearer-vision-her/) [Mary C. Ames](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-c-ames/) > [In work consists the true pride of life; grounded in active employment, though early ardor may abate, it never degenerates into indifference, and age…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leopold-hartley-grindon/in-work-consists-the-true-pride-of-life-grounded-in-active-employment/) [Leopold Hartley Grindon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leopold-hartley-grindon/) > [There was a new kind of strength in the gravity of her face, and her colors still gave her that look of deep-seated health…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/there-was-a-new-kind-of-strength-in-the-gravity-of-her-face-and-her/) [Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/) > [“She could have rambled with all the fervor of a woman who had loved one entity for longer than most races live, and with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/darrell-drake/she-could-have-rambled-with-all-the-fervor-of-a-woman-who-had-loved/) [Darrell Drake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/darrell-drake/) > [I believe verbal felicity is the fruit of ardor, of diligence, and of refusing to be false.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/i-believe-verbal-felicity-is-the-fruit-of-ardor-of-diligence-and-of/) [Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/) > [“But where do we find what's lasting? Where do the deathless things hide?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-zagajewski/but-where-do-we-find-what-s-lasting-where-do-the-deathless-things-hide/) [Adam Zagajewski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-zagajewski/) ## More by Jonathan Mayhew > [It is our happiness to live under the government of a PRINCE who is satisfied with ruling according to law; as every other good…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-mayhew/it-is-our-happiness-to-live-under-the-government-of-a-prince-who-is/) [Jonathan Mayhew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-mayhew/) > [I now add, farther, that the apostles argument is so far from proving it to be the duty of people to obey, and submit…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-mayhew/i-now-add-farther-that-the-apostles-argument-is-so-far-from-proving/) [Jonathan Mayhew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-mayhew/) > [Not to discontinue our allegiance, in this case, would be to join with the sovereign in promoting the slavery and misery of that society,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-mayhew/not-to-discontinue-our-allegiance-in-this-case-would-be-to-join-with/) [Jonathan Mayhew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-mayhew/) > [All civil rulers, as such, are the ordinance and ministers of God; and they are all, by the nature of their office, and in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-mayhew/all-civil-rulers-as-such-are-the-ordinance-and-ministers-of-god-and/) [Jonathan Mayhew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-mayhew/) > [Till people find themselves greatly abused and oppressed by their governors, they are not apt to complain; and whenever they do, in fact, find…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-mayhew/till-people-find-themselves-greatly-abused-and-oppressed-by-their/) [Jonathan Mayhew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-mayhew/) > [The only reason of the institution of civil government; and the only rational ground of submission to it, is the common safety and utility](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-mayhew/the-only-reason-of-the-institution-of-civil-government-and-the-only/) [Jonathan Mayhew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-mayhew/) > [Common tyrants, and public oppressors, are not intitled to obedience from their subjects, by virtue of any thing here laid down by the inspired…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-mayhew/common-tyrants-and-public-oppressors-are-not-intitled-to-obedience/) [Jonathan Mayhew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-mayhew/) > [Let us all learn to be free, and to be loyal.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-mayhew/let-us-all-learn-to-be-free-and-to-be-loyal/) [Jonathan Mayhew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-mayhew/) > [They are more properly ‘The Messengers of Satan to buffet us.’ No rulers are properly God’s ministers, but such as are ‘just, ruling in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-mayhew/they-are-more-properly-the-messengers-of-satan-to-buffet-us-no-rulers/) [Jonathan Mayhew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-mayhew/) > [According to this way of arguing, there will be no true principles in the world; for there are none but what may be wrested…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-mayhew/according-to-this-way-of-arguing-there-will-be-no-true-principles-in/) [Jonathan Mayhew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-mayhew/) > [It becomes us, therefore, to be contented, and dutiful subjects.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-mayhew/it-becomes-us-therefore-to-be-contented-and-dutiful-subjects/) [Jonathan Mayhew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-mayhew/) > [It would be stupid tameness, and unaccountable folly, for whole nations to suffer one unreasonable, ambitious and cruel man, to wanton and riot in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-mayhew/it-would-be-stupid-tameness-and-unaccountable-folly-for-whole-nations/) [Jonathan Mayhew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-mayhew/) > [The king is as much bound by his oath not to infringe the legal rights of the people, as the people are bound to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-mayhew/the-king-is-as-much-bound-by-his-oath-not-to-infringe-the-legal/) [Jonathan Mayhew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-mayhew/) > [People are not usually deprived of their liberties all at once, but gradually, by one encroachment after another, as it is found they are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-mayhew/people-are-not-usually-deprived-of-their-liberties-all-at-once-but/) [Jonathan Mayhew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-mayhew/) > [To say that subjects in general are not proper judges (of the law) when their governors oppress them and play the tyrant, and when…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jonathan-mayhew/to-say-that-subjects-in-general-are-not-proper-judges-of-the-law-when/) [Jonathan Mayhew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-mayhew/) [Explore all 23 Jonathan Mayhew quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jonathan-mayhew/) ## More Ardor quotes > [“But where do we find what's lasting? Where do the deathless things hide?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-zagajewski/but-where-do-we-find-what-s-lasting-where-do-the-deathless-things-hide/) [Adam Zagajewski](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-zagajewski/) > [I believe verbal felicity is the fruit of ardor, of diligence, and of refusing to be false.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marianne-moore/i-believe-verbal-felicity-is-the-fruit-of-ardor-of-diligence-and-of/) [Marianne Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marianne-moore/) > [Without wishing to damp the ardor of curiosity or influence the freedom of inquiry, I will hazard a prediction that, after the most industrious…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-adams/without-wishing-to-damp-the-ardor-of-curiosity-or-influence-the/) [John Adams](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-adams/) > [“She could have rambled with all the fervor of a woman who had loved one entity for longer than most races live, and with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/darrell-drake/she-could-have-rambled-with-all-the-fervor-of-a-woman-who-had-loved/) [Darrell Drake](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/darrell-drake/) > [There was a new kind of strength in the gravity of her face, and her colors still gave her that look of deep-seated health…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/willa-cather/there-was-a-new-kind-of-strength-in-the-gravity-of-her-face-and-her/) [Willa Cather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/willa-cather/) > [In work consists the true pride of life; grounded in active employment, though early ardor may abate, it never degenerates into indifference, and age…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leopold-hartley-grindon/in-work-consists-the-true-pride-of-life-grounded-in-active-employment/) [Leopold Hartley Grindon](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leopold-hartley-grindon/) > [Always man needs woman for his friend. He needs her clearer vision, her subtler insight, her softer thought, her winged soul, her pure and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-c-ames/always-man-needs-woman-for-his-friend-he-needs-her-clearer-vision-her/) [Mary C. Ames](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-c-ames/) > [Before Midnight is one of the years best movies. Full to the brim with humor, heartbreak, and ravishing romance. Richard Linklater directs with ardor…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-travers/before-midnight-is-one-of-the-years-best-movies-full-to-the-brim-with/) [Peter Travers](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-travers/) > [As each man's strength gives out, as it no longer responds to his will, the inertia of the whole gradually comes to rest on…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/carl-von-clausewitz/as-each-man-s-strength-gives-out-as-it-no-longer-responds-to-his-will/) [Carl von Clausewitz](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/carl-von-clausewitz/) > [In proportion as the ardor of divine love brings you nearer to God, so will a larger concourse of saintly brethren flock to you.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-cassian/in-proportion-as-the-ardor-of-divine-love-brings-you-nearer-to-god-so/) [John Cassian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-cassian/) > [Obsessions of the Orient, of the desert, of its ardor and its emptiness, of the shadows of palm gardens, of the garments white and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/andre-gide/obsessions-of-the-orient-of-the-desert-of-its-ardor-and-its-emptiness/) [Andre Gide](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/andre-gide/) > [Life is short, so fall in love, dear maiden, before your youthful ardor cools off, for there is no tomorrow.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/atsushi/life-is-short-so-fall-in-love-dear-maiden-before-your-youthful-ardor/) [Atsushi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/atsushi/) > [I remind you that I belong with great ardor to everyone and for this reason I am suffering immensely for all.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/pio-of-pietrelcina/i-remind-you-that-i-belong-with-great-ardor-to-everyone-and-for-this/) [Pio of Pietrelcina](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/pio-of-pietrelcina/) > [He who wishes to fight must first count the cost. When you engage in actual fighting, if victory is long in coming, then men's…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sun-tzu/he-who-wishes-to-fight-must-first-count-the-cost-when-you-engage-in/) [Sun Tzu](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sun-tzu/) > [“Fogoso gozo fogo.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/filipe-russo/fogoso-gozo-fogo/) [Filipe Russo](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/filipe-russo/) [Browse all 74 Ardor quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/ardor/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "Tyranny brings ignorance and brutality with it. 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