On violence
Violence no longer rests on the belief in its utility, but only on the fact of its having existed so long, and being organized by the ruling classes who profit by it, so that those who are under their authority cannot extricate themselves from it. The governments of our day — all of them, the most despotic and the liberal alike — have become… organizations of violence based on no principle but the grossest tyranny, and at the same time taking advantage of all the means invented by science for the peaceful collective social activity of free and equal men, used by them to enslave and oppress their fellows.
Leo Tolstoy
Tolstoy lived during the time of the Russian Czars. Sadly, it seems he's writing about the current times.
Source: https://www.themarginalian.org/2022/09/07/leo-tolstoy-government/