#1,500

The number of votes by which a ruler is elected is not a measure of his legitimacy but his mediocrity.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 252

#901

An historical period is the period of time during which a certain definition of the legitimate prevails.
Revolution is the transition from one definition to another.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 164

#572

Popular consent is an index of legitimacy, but not a cause.
In the debate over the legitimacy of power neither its origin in the vote nor its origin in force counts.
Power is legitimate if it fulfills the mandate which the vital and ethical necessities of a society confer on it.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 108

#433

The “rational,” the “natural,” the “legitimate,” are nothing more than what is customary.
To live under a political constitution that endures, among customs that endure, is the only thing that allows us to believe in the legitimacy of the ruler, in the rationality of habits, and in the naturalness of things.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 87

#384

The legitimacy of power depends not on its origin, but on its ends.
Nothing is forbidden to power if its origin grants it legitimacy, as the democrat teaches.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 79