The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naive and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, read more

The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naive and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair.

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.

Various kinds of ideas can be classified by their relationship to the authentication process. There are ideas systematically prepared for read more

Various kinds of ideas can be classified by their relationship to the authentication process. There are ideas systematically prepared for authentication ("theories"), ideas not derived from any systematic process ("visions"), ideas which could not survive any reasonable authentication process ("illusions"), ideas which exempt themselves from any authentication process ("myths"), ideas which have already passed authentication processes ("facts"), as well as ideas known to have failed- or certain to fail- such processes ("falsehoods" - both mistakes and lies).

Up men to your posts! Don't forget today that you are from old Virginia. - Gettysburg, July 3, 1863.

Up men to your posts! Don't forget today that you are from old Virginia. - Gettysburg, July 3, 1863.

A race of altruists is necessarily a race of slaves. A race of free men is necessarily a race of read more

A race of altruists is necessarily a race of slaves. A race of free men is necessarily a race of egoists.

The first duty of society is to give each of its members the possibility of fulfilling his destiny. When it read more

The first duty of society is to give each of its members the possibility of fulfilling his destiny. When it becomes incapable of performing this duty it must be transformed. - Reflections on Life.

An ambassador is not simply an agent; he is also a spectacle.

An ambassador is not simply an agent; he is also a spectacle.

Nobody can be trusted with unlimited power. The more power a regime has, the more likely people will be killed. read more

Nobody can be trusted with unlimited power. The more power a regime has, the more likely people will be killed. This is a major reason for promoting freedom.

If there were a verb meaning "to believe falsely," it would not have any significant first person, present indicative.

If there were a verb meaning "to believe falsely," it would not have any significant first person, present indicative.