It is a dangerous and idle dream to think that the state can become rule by philosophers turned kings or read more

It is a dangerous and idle dream to think that the state can become rule by philosophers turned kings or scientists turned commissars. For if philosophers become kings or scientists commissars, they become politicians, and the powers given to the state are powers given to men who are rulers of states, men subject to all the limitations and temptations of their dangerous craft. Unless this is borne in mind, there will be a dangerous optimistic tendency to sweep aside doubts and fears as irrelevant, since, in the state that the projectors have in mind, power will be exercised by men of a wisdom and degree of moral virtue that we have not yet seen. It won't. It will be exercised by men who will be men first and rulers next and scientists and saints long after.

He loved politicians - even Republicans.

He loved politicians - even Republicans.

The correct strategy for Americans negotiating with Japanese or other foreign clients is a Japanese strategy: ask questions. When you read more

The correct strategy for Americans negotiating with Japanese or other foreign clients is a Japanese strategy: ask questions. When you think you understand, ask more questions. Carefully feel for pressure points. If an impasse is reached, don't pressure. Suggest a recess or another meeting.

Justice, like liberty and coercion, is a concept which, for the sake of clarity, ought to be confined to the read more

Justice, like liberty and coercion, is a concept which, for the sake of clarity, ought to be confined to the deliberate treatment of men by other men.

I'm proud that I'm a politician. A politician is a man who understands government, and it takes a politician to read more

I'm proud that I'm a politician. A politician is a man who understands government, and it takes a politician to run a government. A statesman is a politician who's been dead 10 or 15 years.

Darkness yields to
starlight,
to the light of the rising
sun, and to the
light of the soul.

Darkness yields to
starlight,
to the light of the rising
sun, and to the
light of the soul.

Force and fraud are in war the two cardinal virtues.

Force and fraud are in war the two cardinal virtues.

An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with read more

An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life. - Beyond the Horizon, 1942.

How much a dunce that has been sent to roam, excels a dunce that has been kept at home.

How much a dunce that has been sent to roam, excels a dunce that has been kept at home.