Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.

Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.

Discontent is likely to be highest when misery is bearable; when conditions have so improved that an ideal state seems read more

Discontent is likely to be highest when misery is bearable; when conditions have so improved that an ideal state seems almost within reach. A grievance is most poignant when almost redressed. De Tocqueville in his researches into the state of society in France before the revolution was struck by the discovery that "in no one of the periods which have followed the Revolution of 1789 has the national prosperity of France augmented more rapidly than it did in the twenty years preceding that event." He is forced to conclude that "the French found their position the more intolerable the better it became.

All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies.

All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies.

One of the most fashionable notions of our times is that social problems like poverty and oppression breed wars. Most read more

One of the most fashionable notions of our times is that social problems like poverty and oppression breed wars. Most wars, however, are started by well-fed people with time on their hands to dream up half-baked ideologies or grandiose ambitions, and to nurse real or imagined grievances.

I'm the lamest lame duck there could be.

I'm the lamest lame duck there could be.

The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act read more

The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.

We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their read more

We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances - to choose one's own way.

Politics, n: Poly "many" + tics "blood-sucking parasites".

Politics, n: Poly "many" + tics "blood-sucking parasites".

Tyranny and despotism can be exercised by many, more rigourously, more vigourously, and more severely, than by one.

Tyranny and despotism can be exercised by many, more rigourously, more vigourously, and more severely, than by one.