In Germany, they first came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they read more

In Germany, they first came for the communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Catholic. Then they came for me -- and by that time there was nobody left to speak up.

Freedom has cost too much blood and agony to be relinquished at the cheap price of rhetoric.

Freedom has cost too much blood and agony to be relinquished at the cheap price of rhetoric.

Once you get into this great stream of history, you can't get out.

Once you get into this great stream of history, you can't get out.

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.

...tradition and custom becomes intertwined and are a strong coercion which directs the society upon fixed lines, and strangles liberty.

...tradition and custom becomes intertwined and are a strong coercion which directs the society upon fixed lines, and strangles liberty.

The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from
ambush. It will be a slow extinction from read more

The death of democracy is not likely to be an assassination from
ambush. It will be a slow extinction from apathy, indifference,and
undernourishment.

The true civilization is where every man gives to every other every right that he claims for himself.

The true civilization is where every man gives to every other every right that he claims for himself.

Ideology has very little to do with "consciousness" -- it is profoundly unconscious.

Ideology has very little to do with "consciousness" -- it is profoundly unconscious.

To the frustrated, freedom from responsibility is more attractive than freedom from restraint. They are eager to barter their independence read more

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.