Whenever the government of the United States shall break up, it will probably be in consequence of a false direction read more

Whenever the government of the United States shall break up, it will probably be in consequence of a false direction having been given to publick opinion. This is the weak point of our defenses, and the part to which the enemies of the system will direct all their attacks. Opinion can be so perverted as to cause the false to seem the true; the enemy, a friend, and the friend, an enemy; the best interests of the nation to appear insignificant, and trifles of moment; in a word, the right the wrong, and the wrong the right.

A rising mass movement attracts and holds a following not by its doctrine and promises but by the refuge it read more

A rising mass movement attracts and holds a following not by its doctrine and promises but by the refuge it offers from the anxieties, barrenness and meaningless of an individual existence. It cures the poignantly frustrated not by conferring upon them an absolute truth or by remedying the difficulties and abuses which made their lives miserable, but by freeing them from their ineffectual selves- and it does this by enfolding and absorbing them into a closely knit and exultant corporate whole.

Do not free a camel of the burden of his hump: you may be freeing him from being a camel.

Do not free a camel of the burden of his hump: you may be freeing him from being a camel.

Our modern society is engaged in polishing and decorating the cage in which man is kept imprisoned.

Our modern society is engaged in polishing and decorating the cage in which man is kept imprisoned.

Every change in conditions will make necessary some change in the use of resources, in the direction and kind of read more

Every change in conditions will make necessary some change in the use of resources, in the direction and kind of human activities, in habits and practices. And each change in the actions of those affected in the first instance will require further adjustments that will gradually extend through the whole of society. Every change thus in a sense creates a "problem" for society, even though no single individual perceives it as such; it is gradually "solved" by the establishment of a new overall adjustment.

History is on every occasion the record of that which one age finds worthy of note in another.

History is on every occasion the record of that which one age finds worthy of note in another.

If the gods do evil then they are not gods.

If the gods do evil then they are not gods.

Morality, thou deadly bane,Thy tens o' thousands thou has slain!

Morality, thou deadly bane,Thy tens o' thousands thou has slain!

Civilized ages inherit the human nature which was victorious in barbarous ages, and that nature is, in many respects, not read more

Civilized ages inherit the human nature which was victorious in barbarous ages, and that nature is, in many respects, not at all suited to civilized circumstances.