“Further, an excess of legislation defeats its own ends. It makes the whole population criminals, and turns them all into police and police spies. The moral health of such a people is ruined for ever; only revolution can save it.”

“When the police become criminals, slavery can take root.”

“The most important possession of a country is its population. If this is maintained in health and vigour everything else will follow; if this is allowed to decline nothing, not even great riches, can save the country from eventual ruin.”

“The only way, they argued, to prevent a revolution was to rule Russia with an iron hand. This meant defending the autocratic principle, the unchecked powers of the police, the hegemony of the nobility, and the moral domination of the Church, against the liberal and secular challenges of the urban-industrialize order.”

“It's much easier to blow our moral police horns on all those transgressors running around than it is to live penetrating lives of holiness.”

“There are always risks in challenging excessive police power, but the risks of not challenging it are more dangerous, even fatal.”