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    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.

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  9  /  21  

There is in us a tendency to locate the shaping forces of our existence outside ourselves. Success and failure are read more

There is in us a tendency to locate the shaping forces of our existence outside ourselves. Success and failure are unavoidably related in our minds with the state of things around us. Hence it is that people with a sense of fulfillment think it is a good world and would like to preserve it as it is, while the frustrated favor radical change. The tendency to look for all causes outside ourselves persists even when it is clear that our state of being is the product of personal qualities such as ability, character, appearance, health and so on.

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Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

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What is possible is our highest duty.

What is possible is our highest duty.

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Truth is not determined by majority vote.

Truth is not determined by majority vote.

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Ideology has very little to do with "consciousness" -- it is profoundly unconscious.

Ideology has very little to do with "consciousness" -- it is profoundly unconscious.

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  11  /  19  

You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these read more

You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence.

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...Although the political liberty of this country is greater than that of nearly every other civilized nation, its personal liberty read more

...Although the political liberty of this country is greater than that of nearly every other civilized nation, its personal liberty is said to be less. In other words, men are thought to be more under the control of extra-legal authorities, and to defer more to those around them, in pursuing even their lawful and innocent occupations, than in almost every other country.

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The only good bureaucrat is one with a pistol at his head. Put it in his hand and it's good-by read more

The only good bureaucrat is one with a pistol at his head. Put it in his hand and it's good-by to the Bill of Rights.

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Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole read more

Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms as the blackest."
N.B.: This quote refers to the British disarmament of the Indian Army. Gandhi never advocated the individual right to bear arms. - Gandhi, An Autobiography.

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