To the frustrated, freedom from responsibility is more attractive than freedom from restraint. They are eager to barter their independence for relief from the burdens of willing, deciding and being responsible for inevitable failure. They willingly abdicate the directing of their lives to those who want to plan, command and shoulder all responsibility.
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Nothing is quite so wretchedly corrupt as an aristocracy which has lost its power but kept its wealth and which read more
Nothing is quite so wretchedly corrupt as an aristocracy which has lost its power but kept its wealth and which still has endless leisure to devote to nothing but banal enjoyments. All its great thoughts and passionate energy are things of the past, and nothing but a host of petty, gnawing vices now cling to it like worms to a corpse.
Laywers, I suppose, were children once.
Laywers, I suppose, were children once.
If nominated, I will not run; if elected, I will not serve. - On the request that he accept the read more
If nominated, I will not run; if elected, I will not serve. - On the request that he accept the Republican presidential nomination.
There is a powerful craving in most of us to see ourselves as instruments in the hands of others and read more
There is a powerful craving in most of us to see ourselves as instruments in the hands of others and thus free ourselves from the responsibility for acts which are prompted by our own questionable inclinations and impulses. Both the strong and the weak grasp at this alibi. The latter hide their malevolence under the virtue of obedience: they acted dishonorably because they had to obey orders. The strong, too, claim absolution by proclaiming themselves the chosen instrument of a higher power- God, history, fate, nation or humanity.
...whenever it is necessary that one of several conflicting opinions should prevail and when one would have to be made read more
...whenever it is necessary that one of several conflicting opinions should prevail and when one would have to be made to prevail by force if need be, it is less wasteful to determine which has the stronger support by counting numbers than by fighting. Democracy is the only method of peaceful change that man has yet been discovered.
All government, in its essence, is organized exploitation, and in virtually all of its existing forms it is the implacable read more
All government, in its essence, is organized exploitation, and in virtually all of its existing forms it is the implacable enemy of every industrious and well-disposed man.
A political career brings out the basest qualities in human nature.
A political career brings out the basest qualities in human nature.
If the French were really intelligent, they'd speak English.
If the French were really intelligent, they'd speak English.
Democracy is the art of running the circus from the monkey cage.
Democracy is the art of running the circus from the monkey cage.
