Corey Robin quotes

Saint Petersburg in revolt gave us Vladimir Nabokov, Isaiah Berlin, and Ayn Rand. The first was a novelist, the second a philosopher. The third was neither but thought she was both. (Corey Robin)
The rule of law is not an exception to rule by fear; it is the fulfillment of rule by fear. View quote
Corey Robin
A wise psychoanalyst once told me, "Stop looking at what you're saying, look at what you're doing.”. View quote
Corey Robin
Hobbesian state power was not intended for greatness, but to curtail challenges from below. It succeeded when its subjects merely stood still or got out of its way. Their immobility was the outward sign of their fear ... a fear all the more potent for the minimal power that aroused it. View quote
Corey Robin
Leviathan was like the Wizard of Oz, an illusion built from the calculations and imagination of those beholding it. But if there was not much behind the curtain, it did not really matter. For whatever was there, the beholder of the illusion could be certain that the sovereign possessed more power than he wielded himself. View quote
Corey Robin