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.

...no civilized society can long exist, with an active power in its bosom that is stronger than the law.

...no civilized society can long exist, with an active power in its bosom that is stronger than the law.

Did you ever hear anyone say "That work had better be banned because I might read it and it might read more

Did you ever hear anyone say "That work had better be banned because I might read it and it might be very dangerous to me?

To succeed in politics, it is often necessary to rise above your principles.

To succeed in politics, it is often necessary to rise above your principles.

To those who feel that their values are the values, the less controlled systems necessarily present a spectacle of "chaos," read more

To those who feel that their values are the values, the less controlled systems necessarily present a spectacle of "chaos," simply because such systems respond to a diversity of values. The more successfully such systems respond to diversity, the more "chaos" there will be, by definition, according to the standards of any specific set of values- other than diversity or freedom as values. Looked at another way, the more self-righteous observers there are, the more chaos (and "waste") will be seen.

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

The price of freedom is eternal vigilance.

I believe there is a limit beyond which free speech cannot go, but it's a limit that's very seldom mentioned. read more

I believe there is a limit beyond which free speech cannot go, but it's a limit that's very seldom mentioned. It's the point where free speech begins to collide with the right to privacy. I don't think there are any other conditions to free speech. I've got a right to say and believe anything I please, but I haven't got a right to press it on anybody else. .... Nobody's got a right to be a nuisance to his neighbors.

[expressing John Locke's view]...whenever anyone threatens any other innocent human in a way that makes manifest an ignorance or disregard read more

[expressing John Locke's view]...whenever anyone threatens any other innocent human in a way that makes manifest an ignorance or disregard of the fundamental equality as regards the right to self-preservation, the creature in human shape who acts in this way is to be treated by any and all other rational humans as a wild, clever, and therefore very dangerous animal, to be destroyed (if necessary) in order to safeguard the rest.

It is not conclusive proof of a doctrine's correctness that its adversaries use the police, the hangman, and violent mobs read more

It is not conclusive proof of a doctrine's correctness that its adversaries use the police, the hangman, and violent mobs to fight it. But it is a proof of the fact that those taking recourse to violent oppression are in their subconsciousness convinced of the untenability of their own doctrines.