There's only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the read more

There's only one basic human right, the right to do as you damn well please. And with it comes the only basic human duty, the duty to take the consequences.

The most successful career must show a waste of strength that might have removed mountains, and the most unsuccessful is read more

The most successful career must show a waste of strength that might have removed mountains, and the most unsuccessful is not that of the man who is taken unprepared, but of him who has prepared and is never taken. On a tragedy of that kind our national morality is duly silent.

To include freedom in the very definition of democracy is to define a process not by its actual characteristics as read more

To include freedom in the very definition of democracy is to define a process not by its actual characteristics as a process but by its hoped for results. This is not only intellectually invalid, it is, in practical terms, blinding oneself in advance to some of the unwanted consequences of the process.

Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.

Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.

...the crimes of violence committed for selfish, personal motives are historically insignificant compared to those committed ad majorem gloriam Dei, read more

...the crimes of violence committed for selfish, personal motives are historically insignificant compared to those committed ad majorem gloriam Dei, out of a self-sacrificing devotion to the flag, a leader, a religious faith or political conviction.

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.

Perhaps the fact that we have seen millions voting themselves into complete dependence on a tyrant has made our generation read more

Perhaps the fact that we have seen millions voting themselves into complete dependence on a tyrant has made our generation understand that to choose one's government is not necessarily to secure freedom.

Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don't vote.

Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don't vote.

For Americans war is almost all of the time a nuisance, and military skill is a luxury like Mah-Jongg. But read more

For Americans war is almost all of the time a nuisance, and military skill is a luxury like Mah-Jongg. But when the issue is brought home to them, war becomes as important, for the necessary period, as business or sport. And it is hard to decide which is likely to be the more ominous for the Axis -- an American decision that this is sport, or that it is business. - The American Character.