How do you say "when law becomes tyranny rebellion becomes duty" in the shortest possible way in Chinese?

Question

I want to know how to say as Thomas Jefferson said "when law becomes tyranny rebellion becomes duty" in Chinese but with as few signs as possible, traditional Chinese or simplified whichever is the shortest. I'm thinking of maybe getting a tattoo with it.

Answer 1

Edit: Besides idiom and classical style, using a slogan is also a way to reduce text

For example:

Slogan: 反抗暴政，人人有責

full sentence: 反抗暴政是每一個人的責任

Both mean "Resisting tyranny is everyone's responsibility"

Further reduce: 抗暴政，民有責 (Resisting tyranny is the people's duty)

~

What you are looking for is an idiom or literary classical-style speech. Compare to the modern Chinese colloquial language, classical can express a full sentence with as few as one or two words, and some idioms can contain an entire story or ideology

There is an idiom 官逼民反 (When government persecutes the people, the people will revolt). It might be the phrase you wanted

官 authority

逼 persecute

民 people

反 revolt

"官逼民反" in modern Chinese would be "政府迫害人民，人民就會反抗"

The exact quote: "when law becomes tyranny rebellion becomes duty" in modern Chinese is "當法律變成暴政時，反叛就變成了責任".

Using classical-style speech, you can reduce it to "政暴則責在必反" (when the law is tyrannic, one's duty is to revolt)

政 - government/ law

苛 - tyrannic

則 - then

責在 - duty dictate

必反 - must revolt

Answer 2

In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson (slave owner and racist), referring to the despotic British, said:

When faced with a “long train of abuses” with the goal of pursuing despotism, it is the duty of the people to “throw off such government.”

当面对以追求专制为目标而实行“一连串虐待”的征服时，人民有责任“推翻它”

That has been variously interpreted.

Rebellion is a duty when the government becomes an oppressor.
当政府成为压迫者时，反抗就成为了义务。

Answer 3

起义 - rebellion against tyranny.