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

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

A little government and a little luck are necessary in life; but only a fool trusts either of them.

A little government and a little luck are necessary in life; but only a fool trusts either of them.

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.

Prepare by knowing your walk away [conditions] and by building the number of variables you can work with during the read more

Prepare by knowing your walk away [conditions] and by building the number of variables you can work with during the negotiation... you need to have a walk away... a combination of price, terms, and deliverables that represents the least you will accept. Without one, you have no negotiating road map.

The man whose authority is recent is always stern.

The man whose authority is recent is always stern.

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.

CAPITAL, n. The seat of misgovernment. That which provides the fire, the pot, the dinner, the table and the knife read more

CAPITAL, n. The seat of misgovernment. That which provides the fire, the pot, the dinner, the table and the knife and fork for the anarchist; the part of the repast that himself supplies is the disgrace before meat.

...as long as mankind shall continue to bestow more liberal applause on their destroyers than on their benefactors, the thirst read more

...as long as mankind shall continue to bestow more liberal applause on their destroyers than on their benefactors, the thirst of military glory will ever be the vice of the most exalted characters.

I should have had a circuitous answer that was a non-answer.

I should have had a circuitous answer that was a non-answer.