A politician will always tip off his true belief by stating the opposite at the beginning of the sentence. For maximum comprehension, do not start listening until the first clause is concluded. Begin instead at the word "but" which begins the second, or active, clause. This is the way to tell a liberal from a conservative -- before they tell you. Thus: "I have always believed in a strong national defense, second to none, but ... " (a liberal, about to propose a $20 billion defense cut).
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The function of socialism is to raise suffering to a higher level.
The function of socialism is to raise suffering to a higher level.
I've analyzed the best I can ... and I have not found an impeachable offense, and therefore resignation is not read more
I've analyzed the best I can ... and I have not found an impeachable offense, and therefore resignation is not an acceptable course.
Perhaps the fact that we have seen millions voting themselves into complete dependence on a tyrant has made our generation read more
Perhaps the fact that we have seen millions voting themselves into complete dependence on a tyrant has made our generation understand that to choose one's government is not necessarily to secure freedom.
I was known as the chief grave robber of my state.
I was known as the chief grave robber of my state.
To include freedom in the very definition of democracy is to define a process not by its actual characteristics as read more
To include freedom in the very definition of democracy is to define a process not by its actual characteristics as a process but by its hoped for results. This is not only intellectually invalid, it is, in practical terms, blinding oneself in advance to some of the unwanted consequences of the process.
The worst evils which mankind has ever had to endure were inflicted by bad governments. The state can be and read more
The worst evils which mankind has ever had to endure were inflicted by bad governments. The state can be and has often been in the course of history the main source of mischief and disaster.
There is in us a tendency to locate the shaping forces of our existence outside ourselves. Success and failure are read more
There is in us a tendency to locate the shaping forces of our existence outside ourselves. Success and failure are unavoidably related in our minds with the state of things around us. Hence it is that people with a sense of fulfillment think it is a good world and would like to preserve it as it is, while the frustrated favor radical change. The tendency to look for all causes outside ourselves persists even when it is clear that our state of being is the product of personal qualities such as ability, character, appearance, health and so on.
The search for moral guidance which shall not depend upon external authority has invariably ended in the acknowledgment of some read more
The search for moral guidance which shall not depend upon external authority has invariably ended in the acknowledgment of some new authority.
It is a dangerous and idle dream to think that the state can become rule by philosophers turned kings or read more
It is a dangerous and idle dream to think that the state can become rule by philosophers turned kings or scientists turned commissars. For if philosophers become kings or scientists commissars, they become politicians, and the powers given to the state are powers given to men who are rulers of states, men subject to all the limitations and temptations of their dangerous craft. Unless this is borne in mind, there will be a dangerous optimistic tendency to sweep aside doubts and fears as irrelevant, since, in the state that the projectors have in mind, power will be exercised by men of a wisdom and degree of moral virtue that we have not yet seen. It won't. It will be exercised by men who will be men first and rulers next and scientists and saints long after.
