Bruce Bueno De Mesquita · 352 pages
Rating: (3.8K votes)
“Leaders never hesitate to miscount or destroy ballots. Coming to office and staying in office are the most important things in politics. And candidates who aren’t willing to cheat are typically beaten by those who are. Since”
― Bruce Bueno De Mesquita, quote from The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics
“Paying supporters, not good governance or representing the general will, is the essence of ruling. Buying loyalty is particularly difficult”
― Bruce Bueno De Mesquita, quote from The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics
“The world of politics is dictated by rules.”
― Bruce Bueno De Mesquita, quote from The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics
“There is never a point in showing your hand before you have to; that is just a way to ensure giving the game away.”
― Bruce Bueno De Mesquita, quote from The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics
“Every type of politics could be addressed from the point of view of leaders trying to survive.”
― Bruce Bueno De Mesquita, quote from The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics
“How do tyrants hold on to power for so long? For that matter, why is the tenure of successful democratic leaders so brief? How can countries with such misguided and corrupt economic policies survive for so long? Why are countries that are prone to natural disasters so often unprepared when they happen? And how can lands rich with natural resources at the same time support populations stricken with poverty? Equally, we may well wonder: Why are Wall Street executives so politically tone-deaf that they dole out billions in bonuses while plunging the global economy into recession? Why is the leadership of a corporation, on whose shoulders so much responsibility rests, decided by so few people? Why are failed CEOs retained and paid handsomely even as their company’s shareholders lose their shirts? In”
― Bruce Bueno De Mesquita, quote from The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics
“It’s always better for a ruler to determine who eats than it is to have a larger pie from which the people can feed themselves.”
― Bruce Bueno De Mesquita, quote from The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics
“Democracies are not lucky. They do not attract civic-minded leaders by chance. Rather, they attract survival-oriented leaders who understand that, given their dependence on many essentials, they can only come to and stay in power if they figure out the right basket of public goods to provide.”
― Bruce Bueno De Mesquita, quote from The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics
“Lee Kuan Yew ruled Singapore from 1959 until 1990, making him, we believe, the longest serving prime minister anywhere. His party, the People’s Action Party (PAP), dominated elections and that dominance was reinforced by the allocation of public housing, upon which most people in Singapore rely. Neighborhoods that fail to deliver PAP votes come election time found the provision and maintenance of housing cut off.18 In Zimbabwe, Robert Mugabe went one step further. In an operation called Murambatsvina (Operation Drive Out the Rubbish), he used bulldozers to demolish the houses and markets in neighborhoods that failed to support him in the 2005 election.”
― Bruce Bueno De Mesquita, quote from The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics
“Companies maintain lively web sites to put their view across but entrepreneur-owners have not stepped forward to do the same to help organize the mass of little owners and to provide a way for them to share views. Sure, there are bloggers writing about anything and everything, but there don’t seem to be shareholder-controlled sites to exchange thoughts and ideas about a company that participants own in common.”
― Bruce Bueno De Mesquita, quote from The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics
“Hasta algunas de las obras de caridad más sencillas tienen consecuencias negativas que incrementan el control por parte del gobierno y la irresponsabilidad de este.”
― Bruce Bueno De Mesquita, quote from The Dictator's Handbook: Why Bad Behavior is Almost Always Good Politics
Bruce Bueno De Mesquita
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“A man is not called wise because he talks and talks again; but if he is peaceful, loving and fearless then he is in truth called wise.”
― quote from The Dhammapada
“Quinn froze. There was nothing he could do now that would not be a mistake. Whatever choice he made--and he had to make a choice--would be arbitrary, a submission to chance. Uncertainty would haunt him to the end. At that moment, the two Stillmans started on their way again. The first turned right, the second turned left. Quin craved an amoeba's body, wanting to cut himself in half and run off in two directions at once. (Chapter 7)”
― Paul Auster, quote from City of Glass
“It was a long time since he'd done any actual clinical work, and obviously his sojourn among the academics at Saro University had attenuated the professional detachment that allows members of the healing arts to confront the ill without being overwhelmed by compassion and sorrow. He was surprised at that, how tenderhearted he seemed to have become, how thin-skinned.”
― Isaac Asimov, quote from Nightfall
“There is a killer in every cowardly man, waiting for the right set of circumstances when the time has been drained of the possibility of reprisals and he feels free to act.”
― M.D. Lachlan, quote from Wolfsangel
“Alayna” I adored how he said my name, how it always felt like he was saying so much more with only those three syllables. Like a prayer, like a touchstone. It made me feel beautiful.”
― Laurelin Paige, quote from Found in You
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