Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions -- it only guarantees equality of opportunity.

Democracy does not guarantee equality of conditions -- it only guarantees equality of opportunity.

Except in the sacred texts of democracy and in the incantations of orators, we hardly take the trouble to pretend read more

Except in the sacred texts of democracy and in the incantations of orators, we hardly take the trouble to pretend that the rule of the majority is not at bottom a rule of force. What other virtue can there be in fifty-one percent except the brute fact that fifty-one is more than forty-nine? The rule of fifty-one per cent is a convenience, it is for certain matters a satisfactory political device, it is for others the lesser of two evils, and for others it is acceptable because we do not know any less troublesome method of obtaining a political decision. But it may easily become an absurd tyranny if we regard it worshipfully, as though it were more than a political device. We have lost all sense of its true meaning when we imagine that the opinion of fifty-one per cent is in some high fashion the true opinion of the whole hundred per cent, or indulge in the sophistry that the rule of a majority is based upon the ultimate equality of man.

The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity.

The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity.

Make men wise, and by that very operation you make them free. Civil liberty follows as a consequence of this; read more

Make men wise, and by that very operation you make them free. Civil liberty follows as a consequence of this; no usurped power can stand against the artillery of opinion.

To say nothing, especially when speaking, is half the art of diplomacy.

To say nothing, especially when speaking, is half the art of diplomacy.

The better part of statesmanship might be to know clearly and precisely what not to do.

The better part of statesmanship might be to know clearly and precisely what not to do.

For whatever deserves to exist deserves also to be known, for knowledge is the image of existence; and things mean read more

For whatever deserves to exist deserves also to be known, for knowledge is the image of existence; and things mean and splendid exist alike.

The ability to get along without an exceptional leader is the mark of social vigor.

The ability to get along without an exceptional leader is the mark of social vigor.

There is in us a tendency to locate the shaping forces of our existence outside ourselves. Success and failure are read more

There is in us a tendency to locate the shaping forces of our existence outside ourselves. Success and failure are unavoidably related in our minds with the state of things around us. Hence it is that people with a sense of fulfillment think it is a good world and would like to preserve it as it is, while the frustrated favor radical change. The tendency to look for all causes outside ourselves persists even when it is clear that our state of being is the product of personal qualities such as ability, character, appearance, health and so on.