Except in the sacred texts of democracy and in the incantations of orators, we hardly take the trouble to pretend read more

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.

What is history but the story of how politicians have squandered the blood and treasure of the human race.

What is history but the story of how politicians have squandered the blood and treasure of the human race.

Fifty-one percent of a nation can establish a totalitarian regime, suppress minorities and still remain democratic.

Fifty-one percent of a nation can establish a totalitarian regime, suppress minorities and still remain democratic.

I was known as the chief grave robber of my state.

I was known as the chief grave robber of my state.

The more I saw of foreign countries the more I loved my own.

The more I saw of foreign countries the more I loved my own.

Both the revolutionary and the creative individual are perpetual juveniles. The revolutionary does not grow up because he cannot grow, read more

Both the revolutionary and the creative individual are perpetual juveniles. The revolutionary does not grow up because he cannot grow, while the creative individual cannot grow up because he keeps growing.

We do not have censorship. What we have is a limitation on what newspapers can report.

We do not have censorship. What we have is a limitation on what newspapers can report.

Politics makes strange bed-fellows.

Politics makes strange bed-fellows.

A democratic despotism is like a theocracy: it assumes its own correctness.

A democratic despotism is like a theocracy: it assumes its own correctness.