I think there is one higher office than president and I would call that patriot.

I think there is one higher office than president and I would call that patriot.

It is the besetting vice of democracies to substitute public opinion for law. This is the usual form in which read more

It is the besetting vice of democracies to substitute public opinion for law. This is the usual form in which the masses of men exhibit their tyranny.

All government, in its essence, is organized exploitation, and in virtually all of its existing forms it is the implacable read more

All government, in its essence, is organized exploitation, and in virtually all of its existing forms it is the implacable enemy of every industrious and well-disposed man.

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.

Because we can expect future generations to be richer than we are, no matter what we do about resources, asking read more

Because we can expect future generations to be richer than we are, no matter what we do about resources, asking us to refrain from using resources now so that future generations can have them later is like asking the poor to make gifts to the rich.

I've been to war, and it's not easy to kill. It's bloody and messy and totally horrifying, and the consequences read more

I've been to war, and it's not easy to kill. It's bloody and messy and totally horrifying, and the consequences are serious.

My constituency is the desperate, the damned, the disinherited, the disrespected and the despised.

My constituency is the desperate, the damned, the disinherited, the disrespected and the despised.

Whenever men take the law into their own hands, the loser is the law. And when the law loses, freedom read more

Whenever men take the law into their own hands, the loser is the law. And when the law loses, freedom languishes.

At least one way of measuring the freedom of any society is the amount of comedy that is permitted, and read more

At least one way of measuring the freedom of any society is the amount of comedy that is permitted, and clearly a healthy society permits more satirical comment than a repressive, so that if comedy is to function in some way as a safety release then it must obviously deal with these taboo areas. This is part of the responsibility we accord our licensed jesters, that nothing be excused the searching light of comedy. If anything can survive the probe of humour it is clearly of value, and conversely all groups who claim immunity from laughter are claiming special privileges which should not be granted.