“Government has no rights; it is a delegation from several individuals for the purpose of securing their own.”

— Percy Bysshe Shelley, Declaration of Rights (1812)

About Percy Bysshe Shelley

1792 – 1822

English Romantic poet, author of 'Ozymandias' and 'Adonais', an elegy for John Keats.

“Winter is come and gone, but grief returns with the revolving year.”

“Poetry is the record of the best and happiest moments of the happiest and best minds.”

“Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they were not familiar.”

“If you command wisely, you'll be obeyed cheerfully.”

“A little flesh, a little breath, and a Reason to rule all—that is myself.”

“Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, but your government only when it deserves it.”

“The one duty we owe to history is to rewrite it.”

“We live in a country where the people own the Government and not in a country where the Government owns the people.”

“Where there is great power there is great responsibility.”