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    Except in the sacred texts of democracy and in the incantations of orators, we hardly take the trouble to pretend that the rule of the majority is not at bottom a rule of force. What other virtue can there be in fifty-one percent except the brute fact that fifty-one is more than forty-nine? The rule of fifty-one per cent is a convenience, it is for certain matters a satisfactory political device, it is for others the lesser of two evils, and for others it is acceptable because we do not know any less troublesome method of obtaining a political decision. But it may easily become an absurd tyranny if we regard it worshipfully, as though it were more than a political device. We have lost all sense of its true meaning when we imagine that the opinion of fifty-one per cent is in some high fashion the true opinion of the whole hundred per cent, or indulge in the sophistry that the rule of a majority is based upon the ultimate equality of man.

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...one of the most notable characteristics of any Age of Conflict is the effort to achieve economic expansion by political read more

...one of the most notable characteristics of any Age of Conflict is the effort to achieve economic expansion by political rather than by economic means.

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Equality, in a social sense, may be divided into that of condition, and that of rights. Equality of condition is read more

Equality, in a social sense, may be divided into that of condition, and that of rights. Equality of condition is incompatible with civilization, and is found only to exist in those communities that are but slightly removed from the savage state. In practice, it can only mean a common misery.

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  13  /  23  

The glory of a nation and an age is always the work of a few great persons, and it disappears read more

The glory of a nation and an age is always the work of a few great persons, and it disappears with them.

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I've analyzed the best I can ... and I have not found an impeachable offense, and therefore resignation is not read more

I've analyzed the best I can ... and I have not found an impeachable offense, and therefore resignation is not an acceptable course.

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To those who feel that their values are the values, the less controlled systems necessarily present a spectacle of "chaos," read more

To those who feel that their values are the values, the less controlled systems necessarily present a spectacle of "chaos," simply because such systems respond to a diversity of values. The more successfully such systems respond to diversity, the more "chaos" there will be, by definition, according to the standards of any specific set of values- other than diversity or freedom as values. Looked at another way, the more self-righteous observers there are, the more chaos (and "waste") will be seen.

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Oh! Duty is an icy shadow. It will freeze you. It cannot fill the heart's sanctuary.

Oh! Duty is an icy shadow. It will freeze you. It cannot fill the heart's sanctuary.

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What is hateful to thyself do not do to another. That is the whole Law, the rest is Commentary.

What is hateful to thyself do not do to another. That is the whole Law, the rest is Commentary.

by Hillel Found in: Politics / government Quotes,
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The problem with political jokes is they get elected.

The problem with political jokes is they get elected.

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The humblest citizen of all the land when clad in the armor of a righteous cause, is stronger than all read more

The humblest citizen of all the land when clad in the armor of a righteous cause, is stronger than all the hosts of Error.

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