The common good comes before the private good.

The common good comes before the private good.

There is perhaps no better way of measuring the natural endowment of a soul than by its ability to transmute read more

There is perhaps no better way of measuring the natural endowment of a soul than by its ability to transmute dissatisfaction into a creative impulse. The genuine artist is as much a dissatisfied person as the revolutionary, yet how diametrically opposed are the products each distills from his dissatisfaction.

Politics, n: Poly "many" + tics "blood-sucking parasites".

Politics, n: Poly "many" + tics "blood-sucking parasites".

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that read more

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.

Freedom has cost too much blood and agony to be relinquished at the cheap price of rhetoric.

Freedom has cost too much blood and agony to be relinquished at the cheap price of rhetoric.

Crime wouldn't pay if the government ran it.

Crime wouldn't pay if the government ran it.

The danger inherent in reform is that the cure may be worse than the disease. Reform is an operation on read more

The danger inherent in reform is that the cure may be worse than the disease. Reform is an operation on the social body; but unlike medical surgeons, reformers are not on guard against unpredictable side effects which may divert the course of reform toward unwanted results. Moreover, quite often the social doctors become part of the disease.

Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the
systematic organization of hatreds.

Politics, as a practice, whatever its professions, has always been the
systematic organization of hatreds.

For Americans war is almost all of the time a nuisance, and military skill is a luxury like Mah-Jongg. But read more

For Americans war is almost all of the time a nuisance, and military skill is a luxury like Mah-Jongg. But when the issue is brought home to them, war becomes as important, for the necessary period, as business or sport. And it is hard to decide which is likely to be the more ominous for the Axis -- an American decision that this is sport, or that it is business. - The American Character.