91. Tyranny is wishing to have by one means something that can only be had by another. We have different duties to different merits: a duty of love to loveliness, a duty of fear to force, a duty of credence to knowledge.We are obliged to fulfill these duties. It is unjust to deny them and unjust to ask for others.
Therefore, these statements are false and tyrannical: "I am handsome, therefore I should be feared. I am strong, therefore I should be loved. I am..."
And it is similarly false and tyrannical to say: "He is not strong, therefore I will not hold him in esteem. He is not clever, therefore I will not fear him."
92. Tyranny consists in the desire for universal domination outside its order.
Different jurisdictions — of the strong, of the handsome, of lofty minds, of the pious: each one is master in his sphere and nowhere else, and on occasion comes into contact with the others. The strong and the handsome struggle for domination to no purpose, for the mastery of each is distinct. They do not understand one another. And their error lies in wishing to rule everywhere. Nothing has that power, not even sheer force. It is of no effect in the realm of the learned. It has dominion only over external actions.
Blaise Pascal — Pensees, IV.91,92
