The genius of a good leader is to leave behind him a situation which common sense, without the grace of read more

The genius of a good leader is to leave behind him a situation which common sense, without the grace of genius, can deal with successfully.

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.

Nothing can so alienate a voter from the political system as backing a winning candidate.

Nothing can so alienate a voter from the political system as backing a winning candidate.

It's a sad and stupid thing to have to proclaim yourself a revolutionary just to be a decent man.

It's a sad and stupid thing to have to proclaim yourself a revolutionary just to be a decent man.

A recent conversation: Dubya: Look at the clock, time is racing! Cheney: That's the second hand, George.

A recent conversation: Dubya: Look at the clock, time is racing! Cheney: That's the second hand, George.

It is the invariable habit of bureaucracies, at all times and everywhere, to assume...that every citizen is a criminal. Their read more

It is the invariable habit of bureaucracies, at all times and everywhere, to assume...that every citizen is a criminal. Their one apparent purpose, pursued with a relentless and furious diligence, is to convert the assumption into a fact. They hunt endlessly for proofs, and, when proofs are lacking, for mere suspicions. The moment they become aware of a definite citizen, John Doe, seeking what is his right under the law, they begin searching feverishly for an excuse for withholding it from him.

Be England what she will, with all her faults she is my country still.

Be England what she will, with all her faults she is my country still.

Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.

Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers.

It's time for the human race to enter the solar system.

It's time for the human race to enter the solar system.