Freedom means freedom from forces and circumstances which would turn man into a thing, which would impose on man the read more

Freedom means freedom from forces and circumstances which would turn man into a thing, which would impose on man the passivity and predictability of matter. By this test, absolute power is the manifestation most inimical to human uniqueness. Absolute power wants to turn people into malleable clay.

Show me the country that has no strikes and I'll show you the country in which there is no liberty.

Show me the country that has no strikes and I'll show you the country in which there is no liberty.

Force is the antithesis of freedom, but force must be used, if only to defend against other force.

Force is the antithesis of freedom, but force must be used, if only to defend against other force.

If you have ever seen a four-year-old trying to lord it over a two-year-old, then you know what the basic read more

If you have ever seen a four-year-old trying to lord it over a two-year-old, then you know what the basic problem of human nature is -- and why government keeps growing larger and ever more intrusive.

The most successful career must show a waste of strength that might have removed mountains, and the most unsuccessful is read more

The most successful career must show a waste of strength that might have removed mountains, and the most unsuccessful is not that of the man who is taken unprepared, but of him who has prepared and is never taken. On a tragedy of that kind our national morality is duly silent.

It is the very essence of despotism that it can never afford to fail. This is what distinguishes it most read more

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.

Life without liberty is like a body without spirit.

Life without liberty is like a body without spirit.

Delegating means letting others become the experts and hence the best.

Delegating means letting others become the experts and hence the best.

Habit is the denial of creativity and the negation of freedom; a self-imposed straitjacket of which the wearer is unaware.

Habit is the denial of creativity and the negation of freedom; a self-imposed straitjacket of which the wearer is unaware.