Nothing is quite so wretchedly corrupt as an aristocracy which has lost its power but kept its wealth and which still has endless leisure to devote to nothing but banal enjoyments. All its great thoughts and passionate energy are things of the past, and nothing but a host of petty, gnawing vices now cling to it like worms to a corpse.
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...it may fairly be doubted if any political tyranny ever imposed on its people such a fear, such a longing read more
...it may fairly be doubted if any political tyranny ever imposed on its people such a fear, such a longing for freedom, such a paralysis of the spirit, as disease. I doubt if the average Englishman felt himself as much oppressed by Charles I as by the plague; or if any colonial American was as much in dread of taxation without representation as of smallpox. And it may reasonably be contended that Walter Reed and William Crawford Gorgas brought to man freedom in a more happy sense and in a larger measure than any military or political leader.
When people revolt in a totalitarian society, they rise not against the wickedness of the regime but its weakness.
When people revolt in a totalitarian society, they rise not against the wickedness of the regime but its weakness.
The only way you can do that [decrease taxes, balance the budget, and increase military spending] is with mirrors, and read more
The only way you can do that [decrease taxes, balance the budget, and increase military spending] is with mirrors, and that's what it would take.
Every St. Patrick's Day every Irishman goes out to find another Irishman to make a speech to.
Every St. Patrick's Day every Irishman goes out to find another Irishman to make a speech to.
What is politically defined as economic "planning" is the forcible superseding of other people's plans by government officials.
What is politically defined as economic "planning" is the forcible superseding of other people's plans by government officials.
Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.
Laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.
A politician thinks of the next election; a statesman, of the next generation.
A politician thinks of the next election; a statesman, of the next generation.
So far as business and money are concerned, a country gains nothing by a successful war, even though that war read more
So far as business and money are concerned, a country gains nothing by a successful war, even though that war involves the acquisition of immense new provinces.
Politics makes strange bed-fellows.
Politics makes strange bed-fellows.
