A criminal trial is like a Russian novel: it starts with exasperating slowness as the characters are introduced to a jury, then there are complications in the form of minor witnesses, the protagonist finally appears and contradictions arise to produce drama, and finally as both jury and spectators grow weary and confused the pace quickens, reaching its climax in passionate final argument.
You May Also Like / View all maxioms
...regrettable as it may seem to the idealist, the experience of history provides little warrant for the belief that real read more
...regrettable as it may seem to the idealist, the experience of history provides little warrant for the belief that real progress, and the freedom that makes progress possible, lies in unification. For where unification has been able to establish unity of ideas it has usually ended in uniformity, paralysing the growth of new ideas. And where the unification has merely brought about an artificial or imposed unity, its irksomeness has led through discord to disruption.Vitality springs from diversity- which makes for real progress so long as there is mutual toleration, based on the recognition that worse may come from an attempt to suppress differences than from acceptance of them. For this reason, the kind of peace that makes progress possible is best assured by the mutual checks created by a balance of forces- alike in the sphere of internal politics and of international relations.
Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they've told you what it is you want to hear.
Democracy consists of choosing your dictators, after they've told you what it is you want to hear.
..the Bill of Rights does not come from the people and is not subject to change by majorities. It comes read more
..the Bill of Rights does not come from the people and is not subject to change by majorities. It comes from the nature of things. It declares the inalienable rights of man not only against all government but also against the people collectively.
The thing I enjoyed most were visits from children. They did not want public office.
The thing I enjoyed most were visits from children. They did not want public office.
There is no slavery but ignorance.
There is no slavery but ignorance.
There is perhaps no better way of measuring the natural endowment of a soul than by its ability to transmute read more
There is perhaps no better way of measuring the natural endowment of a soul than by its ability to transmute dissatisfaction into a creative impulse. The genuine artist is as much a dissatisfied person as the revolutionary, yet how diametrically opposed are the products each distills from his dissatisfaction.
The last of the human freedoms is to choose one's attitudes.
The last of the human freedoms is to choose one's attitudes.
In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards.
In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards.
It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me. But it can keep him from lynching read more
It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me. But it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.
