The great crimes of the twentieth century were committed not by money-grubbing capitalists but by dedicated idealists. Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler were contemptuous of money. The passage from the nineteenth to the twentieth century has been a passage from considerations of money to considerations of power. How naive the cliche that money is the root of evil!
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Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations, may she always be in the right; but our country, right or read more
Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations, may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong.
Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master.
Few men desire liberty; most men wish only for a just master.
The world will never have lasting peace so long as men reserve for war the finest human qualities. Peace, no read more
The world will never have lasting peace so long as men reserve for war the finest human qualities. Peace, no less than war, requires idealism and self-sacrifice and a righteous and dynamic faith.
The more productive people are, the more governments can tax and confiscate. So the more productive people are, the more read more
The more productive people are, the more governments can tax and confiscate. So the more productive people are, the more costly it is for governments to kill them. Evidence indicates that governments respond to this economic incentive.
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.
The US has a vital interest in that area of the country [Latin America].
The US has a vital interest in that area of the country [Latin America].
Every device employed to bolster individual freedom must have as its chief purpose the impairment of the absoluteness of power. read more
Every device employed to bolster individual freedom must have as its chief purpose the impairment of the absoluteness of power. The indications are that such an impairment is brought about not by strengthening the individual and pitting him against the possessors of power, but by distributing and diversifying power and pitting one category or unit of power against the other. Where power is one, the defeated individual, however strong and resourceful, can have no refuge and no recourse.
Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don't vote.
Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don't vote.
What is possible is our highest duty.
What is possible is our highest duty.
