A government is the only known vessel that leaks from the top.

A government is the only known vessel that leaks from the top.

I slept, and dreamed that life was beauty; I woke, and found that life was Duty.

I slept, and dreamed that life was beauty; I woke, and found that life was Duty.

I am working for the time when unqualified blacks, browns, and women join the unqualified men in running our government.

I am working for the time when unqualified blacks, browns, and women join the unqualified men in running our government.

Oh! Duty is an icy shadow. It will freeze you. It cannot fill the heart's sanctuary.

Oh! Duty is an icy shadow. It will freeze you. It cannot fill the heart's sanctuary.

Discontent does not invariably create a desire for change. Other factors have to be present before discontent turns into disaffection. read more

Discontent does not invariably create a desire for change. Other factors have to be present before discontent turns into disaffection. One of these is a sense of power.

The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, read more

The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.

Only a government that is rich and safe can afford to be a democracy, for democracy is the most expensive read more

Only a government that is rich and safe can afford to be a democracy, for democracy is the most expensive and nefarious kind of government ever heard of on earth.

...we are apt to forget that the vast majority of men and women who fell under the totalitarian spell was read more

...we are apt to forget that the vast majority of men and women who fell under the totalitarian spell was activated by unselfish motives, ready to accept the role of martyr or executioner, as the cause demanded.

The fact is that up to now a free society has not been good for the intellectual. It has neither read more

The fact is that up to now a free society has not been good for the intellectual. It has neither accorded him a superior status to sustain his confidence nor made it easy for him to acquire an unquestioned sense of social usefulness. For he derives his sense of usefulness mainly from directing, instructing, and planning- from minding other people's business- and is bound to feel superfluous and neglected where people believe themselves competent to manage individual and communal affairs, and are impatient of supervision and regulation. A free society is as much a threat to the intellectual's sense of worth as an automated economy is to the workingman's sense of worth. Any social order that can function with a minimum of leadership will be anathema to the intellectual.