The true civilization is where every man gives to every other every right that he claims for himself.

The true civilization is where every man gives to every other every right that he claims for himself.

You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the read more

You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered.

Except in the sacred texts of democracy and in the incantations of orators, we hardly take the trouble to pretend read more

Except in the sacred texts of democracy and in the incantations of orators, we hardly take the trouble to pretend that the rule of the majority is not at bottom a rule of force. What other virtue can there be in fifty-one percent except the brute fact that fifty-one is more than forty-nine? The rule of fifty-one per cent is a convenience, it is for certain matters a satisfactory political device, it is for others the lesser of two evils, and for others it is acceptable because we do not know any less troublesome method of obtaining a political decision. But it may easily become an absurd tyranny if we regard it worshipfully, as though it were more than a political device. We have lost all sense of its true meaning when we imagine that the opinion of fifty-one per cent is in some high fashion the true opinion of the whole hundred per cent, or indulge in the sophistry that the rule of a majority is based upon the ultimate equality of man.

Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks.

Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks.

In war there is no substitute for victory.

In war there is no substitute for victory.

The more I saw of foreign countries the more I loved my own.

The more I saw of foreign countries the more I loved my own.

Taxes are not levied for the benefit of the taxed.

Taxes are not levied for the benefit of the taxed.

They who have reasoned ignorantly, or who have aimed at effecting their personal ends by flattering the popular feeling, have read more

They who have reasoned ignorantly, or who have aimed at effecting their personal ends by flattering the popular feeling, have boldly affirmed that "one man is as good as another;" a maxim that is true in neither nature, revealed morals, nor political theory.

Property is a central economic institution of any society, and private property is the central institution of a free society.

Property is a central economic institution of any society, and private property is the central institution of a free society.