The best reason I can think of for not running for President of the United States is that you have read more

The best reason I can think of for not running for President of the United States is that you have to shave twice a day.

The essence of democracy is not that everyone makes and administers laws but that lawgivers and rulers should be dependent read more

The essence of democracy is not that everyone makes and administers laws but that lawgivers and rulers should be dependent on the people's will in such a way that they may be peaceably changed if conflict occurs.

Government and state can never be perfect because they owe their raison d'etre to the imperfection of man and can read more

Government and state can never be perfect because they owe their raison d'etre to the imperfection of man and can attain their end, the elimination of man's innate impulse to violence, only by recourse to violence, the very thing they are called upon to prevent.

Peace is liberty in tranquillity.

Peace is liberty in tranquillity.

A wise man learns more from his enemies than a fool from his friends.

A wise man learns more from his enemies than a fool from his friends.

Discontent does not invariably create a desire for change. Other factors have to be present before discontent turns into disaffection. read more

Discontent does not invariably create a desire for change. Other factors have to be present before discontent turns into disaffection. One of these is a sense of power.

I was recently on a tour of Latin America,and the only regret I have was that I didn't study Latin read more

I was recently on a tour of Latin America,and the only regret I have was that I didn't study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people.

My brother Bob doesn't want to be in government -- he promised Dad he'd go straight.

My brother Bob doesn't want to be in government -- he promised Dad he'd go straight.

The fact is that up to now a free society has not been good for the intellectual. It has neither read more

The fact is that up to now a free society has not been good for the intellectual. It has neither accorded him a superior status to sustain his confidence nor made it easy for him to acquire an unquestioned sense of social usefulness. For he derives his sense of usefulness mainly from directing, instructing, and planning- from minding other people's business- and is bound to feel superfluous and neglected where people believe themselves competent to manage individual and communal affairs, and are impatient of supervision and regulation. A free society is as much a threat to the intellectual's sense of worth as an automated economy is to the workingman's sense of worth. Any social order that can function with a minimum of leadership will be anathema to the intellectual.