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.
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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.
Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole read more
Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest."
N.B.: This quote refers to the British disarmament of the Indian Army. Gandhi never advocated the individual right to bear arms. - Gandhi, An Autobiography.
All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies.
All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies.
A society that does not recognize that each individual has values of his own which he is entitled to follow read more
A society that does not recognize that each individual has values of his own which he is entitled to follow can have no respect for the dignity of the individual and cannot really know freedom.
Free institutions are not the property of any majority. They do not confer upon majorities unlimited powers. The rights of read more
Free institutions are not the property of any majority. They do not confer upon majorities unlimited powers. The rights of the majority are limited rights. They are limited not only by the constitutional guarantees but by the moral principle implied in those guarantees. That principle is that men may not use the facilities of liberty to impair them. No man may invoke a right in order to destroy it.
The kind of man who wants the government to adopt and enforce his ideas is always the kind of man read more
The kind of man who wants the government to adopt and enforce his ideas is always the kind of man whose ideas are idiotic.
Patriotism has its roots deep in the instincts and the affections. Love of country is the expansion of dutiful love.
Patriotism has its roots deep in the instincts and the affections. Love of country is the expansion of dutiful love.
This is, I say, the time for all good men not to go to the aid of their party, but read more
This is, I say, the time for all good men not to go to the aid of their party, but to come to the aid of their country.
Every device employed to bolster individual freedom must have as its chief purpose the impairment of the absoluteness of power. read more
Every device employed to bolster individual freedom must have as its chief purpose the impairment of the absoluteness of power. The indications are that such an impairment is brought about not by strengthening the individual and pitting him against the possessors of power, but by distributing and diversifying power and pitting one category or unit of power against the other. Where power is one, the defeated individual, however strong and resourceful, can have no refuge and no recourse.
