...economic history is a long record of government policies that failed because they were designed with a bold disregard for read more

...economic history is a long record of government policies that failed because they were designed with a bold disregard for the laws of economics.

One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.

One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency.

No matter how disastrously some policy has turned out, anyone who criticizes it can expect to hear: "But what would read more

No matter how disastrously some policy has turned out, anyone who criticizes it can expect to hear: "But what would you replace it with?" When you put out a fire, what do you replace it with?

Every politician should have been born an orphan and remain a bachelor.

Every politician should have been born an orphan and remain a bachelor.

To wage a war for a purely moral reason is as absurd as to ravish a woman for a purely read more

To wage a war for a purely moral reason is as absurd as to ravish a woman for a purely moral reason.

Let the sun shine in.

Let the sun shine in.

It is the very essence of despotism that it can never afford to fail. This is what distinguishes it most read more

It is the very essence of despotism that it can never afford to fail. This is what distinguishes it most vitally from democracy. In a despotism there is no organized opposition which can take over the power when the Administration in office has failed. All the eggs are in one basket. Everything is staked on one coterie of men. When the going is good, they move more quickly and efficiently than democracies, where the opposition has to be persuaded and conciliated. But when they lose, there are no reserves. There are no substitutes on the bench ready to go out on the field and carry the ball. That is why democracies with the habit of party government have outlived all other forms of government in the modern world. They have, as it were, at least two governments always at hand, and when one fails they have the other. They have diversified the risks of mortality, corruption, and stupidity which pervade all human affairs. They have remembered that the most beautifully impressive machine cannot run for very long unless there is available a complete supply of spare parts.

Quemadmodum gladius neminem occidit, occidentis telum est."
Latin: "A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's read more

Quemadmodum gladius neminem occidit, occidentis telum est."
Latin: "A sword never kills anybody; it is a tool in the killer's hand. - Letters to Lucilius.

The crime bill passed by the Senate would reinstate the Federal death penalty for certain violent crimes: assassinating the President; read more

The crime bill passed by the Senate would reinstate the Federal death penalty for certain violent crimes: assassinating the President; hijacking an airliner; and murdering a government poultry inspector.