All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies.

All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies.

The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity.

The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity.

Don't one of you fire until you see the whites of their eyes."N.B.: A lesser-known version of this quotation was read more

Don't one of you fire until you see the whites of their eyes."N.B.: A lesser-known version of this quotation was supposedly said by Frederick the Great at Prague in 1757: "By push of bayonets, no firing till you see the whites of their eyes. - Battle of Bunker Hill, 1775.

In all history there is no war which was not hatched by the governments, the governments alone, independent of the read more

In all history there is no war which was not hatched by the governments, the governments alone, independent of the interests of the people, to whom war is always pernicious even when successful.

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.

Rank and riches are chains of gold, but still chains.

Rank and riches are chains of gold, but still chains.

Politics is not an exact science.

Politics is not an exact science.

I'm the lamest lame duck there could be.

I'm the lamest lame duck there could be.

Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to read more

Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule--and both commonly succeed, and are right.