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.

God himself has no right to be a tyrant.

God himself has no right to be a tyrant.

I am not anti-American. But I am strongly pro-Canadian.

I am not anti-American. But I am strongly pro-Canadian.

Tyranny and despotism can be exercised by many, more rigourously, more vigourously, and more severely, than by one.

Tyranny and despotism can be exercised by many, more rigourously, more vigourously, and more severely, than by one.

Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and read more

Kill a man, and you are an assassin. Kill millions of men, and you are a conqueror. Kill everyone, and you are a god.

I'd rather keep my promises to other politicians than to God. God, at least, has a degree of forgiveness.

I'd rather keep my promises to other politicians than to God. God, at least, has a degree of forgiveness.

The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it.

The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it.

Be England what she will, with all her faults she is my country still.

Be England what she will, with all her faults she is my country still.

Perhaps the fact that we have seen millions voting themselves into complete dependence on a tyrant has made our generation read more

Perhaps the fact that we have seen millions voting themselves into complete dependence on a tyrant has made our generation understand that to choose one's government is not necessarily to secure freedom.