<p><strong>Edit:</strong> Besides idiom and classical style, using a slogan is also a way to reduce text</p>
<p>For example:</p>
<p>Slogan: 反抗暴政，人人有責</p>
<p>full sentence: 反抗暴政是每一個人的責任</p>
<p>Both mean &quot;Resisting tyranny is everyone's responsibility&quot;</p>
<p>Further reduce: <strong>抗暴政，民有責</strong> (Resisting tyranny is the people's duty)</p>
<p>~</p>
<p>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</p>
<p>There is an idiom <strong>官逼民反</strong> (When government persecutes the people, the people will revolt). It might be the phrase you wanted</p>
<p>官 authority</p>
<p>逼 persecute</p>
<p>民 people</p>
<p>反 revolt</p>
<p>&quot;官逼民反&quot; in modern Chinese would be &quot;政府迫害人民，人民就會反抗&quot;</p>
<p>The exact quote: &quot;when law becomes tyranny rebellion becomes duty&quot; in modern Chinese is &quot;當法律變成暴政時，反叛就變成了責任&quot;.</p>
<p>Using classical-style speech, you can reduce it to &quot;政暴則責在必反&quot; (when the law is tyrannic, one's duty is to revolt)</p>
<p>政 - government/ law</p>
<p>苛 - tyrannic</p>
<p>則 - then</p>
<p>責在 - duty dictate</p>
<p>必反 - must revolt</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-03T17:59:19.243Z
Thank you. Thats something, but i'm looking to get almost the exact quote from Thomas Jefferson with maybe a few words of due to language barier . Is that posible?
Karl Bernbro
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-03T18:12:33.883Z
See my edition about changing modern Chinese into classical Chinese
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-03T20:55:25.757Z
That looks more like it could be a tattoo. But Google translates it to “Political tyranny is to blame”. That’s not quite right 
Karl Bernbro
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-03T22:08:23.063Z
You shouldn't trust Google translate over a human.
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-03T23:08:47.260Z
Could you offer your reasoning for phrasing it as 責在必反? That doesn't sound quite right to me.
EEQ
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-03T23:40:19.763Z
Might be better to use 苛 instead of 暴, just to invoke “苛政猛于虎”.
EEQ
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-03T23:41:35.123Z
責在必反 is short  for 責任(duty) 所在(fall on) 必須(must) 造反(revolt); similar structure to 勢在必行
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-03T23:44:34.253Z
@EEQ good (苛 instead of 暴) good suggestion, more literary
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-03T23:57:53.337Z
@TangHo IMO 責在必反 is slightly ungrammatical. "责任所在，必须造反" is somewhat a 倒装 of "造反是责任所在", thus you shouldn't contract the inverted phrases. Not to mention that the duty is "to revolt", not "to must revolt". Sliding a 必 in there sounds wrong.
EEQ
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-03T17:47:48.830Z
2022-10-04T07:07:40.190Z
2022-10-04T07:07:40.190Z
Tang Ho
<p>In the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson (slave owner and racist), referring to the despotic British, said:</p>
<p>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.”</p>
<p>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”</p>
<p>That has been variously interpreted.</p>
<p>Rebellion is a duty when the government becomes an oppressor.<br />
当政府成为压迫者时，反抗就成为了义务。</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-04T00:15:25.903Z
2022-10-04T00:15:25.903Z
Pedroski
<p>起义 - rebellion against tyranny.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-03T18:20:13.250Z
Good one, but rebelling against tyranny is mostly  one's 志願 (volunteer ); "duty" means you must do it even if you didn't want to
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-03T18:25:31.990Z
I don't understand the word "volunteer" in this case, can you elaborate further?
r13
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-03T18:29:52.480Z
volunteer - undertake a task of one's own free will. (if you don't do it, no one will hold it against you); A duty, on the other hand, is something you are bound to do even if you didn't want to. Jefferson's words morally condemned people who didn't revolt against tyranny
Tang Ho
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-03T19:04:25.830Z
That makes sense, thanks. Now I realize Jefferson was condemning the people who do not exercise their "義務" while the cause is present.
r13
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-03T18:11:00.280Z
2022-10-03T18:11:00.280Z
r13
<p>I want to know how to say as Thomas Jefferson said &quot;when law becomes tyranny rebellion becomes duty&quot; 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.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-10-04T00:35:32.030Z
The quote in English seems to be "when injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty", which may not be by Jefferson ([1](https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/when_injustice_is_law_resistance_is_duty_when_injustice_is_law_rebellion_is), [2](https://www.monticello.org/research-education/thomas-jefferson-encyclopedia/when-injustice-becomes-law-resistance-becomes-duty-spurious-quotation/)).
Becky 李蓓
<translation>
How do you say "when law becomes tyranny rebellion becomes duty" in the shortest possible way in Chinese?
# How do you say "when law becomes tyranny rebellion becomes duty" in the shortest possible way in Chinese?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-10-03)

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.

**Tags:** translation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: The quote in English seems to be "when injustice becomes law, resistance becomes duty", which may not be by Jefferson ([1](https://www.barrypopik.com/index.php/new_york_city/entry/when_injustice_is_law_resistance_is_duty_when_injustice_is_law_rebellion_is), [2](https://www.monticello.org/research-education/thomas-jefferson-encyclopedia/when-injustice-becomes-law-resistance-becomes-duty-spurious-quotation/)).  

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## 3 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2022-10-03. Score: 4

**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

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thank you. Thats something, but i'm looking to get almost the exact quote from Thomas Jefferson with maybe a few words of due to language barier . Is that posible?  
> **username_2**: See my edition about changing modern Chinese into classical Chinese  
> **username_0**: That looks more like it could be a tattoo. But Google translates it to “Political tyranny is to blame”. That’s not quite right   
> **username_2**: You shouldn't trust Google translate over a human.  
> **username_3**: Could you offer your reasoning for phrasing it as 責在必反? That doesn't sound quite right to me.  
> **username_3**: Might be better to use 苛 instead of 暴, just to invoke “苛政猛于虎”.  
> **username_2**: 責在必反 is short  for 責任(duty) 所在(fall on) 必須(must) 造反(revolt); similar structure to 勢在必行  
> **username_2**: @username_3 good (苛 instead of 暴) good suggestion, more literary  
> **username_3**: @username_2 IMO 責在必反 is slightly ungrammatical. "责任所在，必须造反" is somewhat a 倒装 of "造反是责任所在", thus you shouldn't contract the inverted phrases. Not to mention that the duty is "to revolt", not "to must revolt". Sliding a 必 in there sounds wrong.  

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### Answer by username_4 on 2022-10-04. Score: 0

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。


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### Answer by username_5 on 2022-10-03. Score: -1

起义 - rebellion against tyranny.

> **Comments:**
> **username_2**: Good one, but rebelling against tyranny is mostly  one's 志願 (volunteer ); "duty" means you must do it even if you didn't want to  
> **username_5**: I don't understand the word "volunteer" in this case, can you elaborate further?  
> **username_2**: volunteer - undertake a task of one's own free will. (if you don't do it, no one will hold it against you); A duty, on the other hand, is something you are bound to do even if you didn't want to. Jefferson's words morally condemned people who didn't revolt against tyranny  
> **username_5**: That makes sense, thanks. Now I realize Jefferson was condemning the people who do not exercise their "義務" while the cause is present.  

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