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There is in us a tendency to locate the shaping forces of our existence outside ourselves. Success and failure are read more
There is in us a tendency to locate the shaping forces of our existence outside ourselves. Success and failure are unavoidably related in our minds with the state of things around us. Hence it is that people with a sense of fulfillment think it is a good world and would like to preserve it as it is, while the frustrated favor radical change. The tendency to look for all causes outside ourselves persists even when it is clear that our state of being is the product of personal qualities such as ability, character, appearance, health and so on.
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.
All leaders strive to turn their followers into children.
All leaders strive to turn their followers into children.
There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because read more
There is no worse tyranny than to force a man to pay for what he does not want merely because you think it would be good for him.
No one has a right to happiness.
No one has a right to happiness.
Socialism is Bolshevism with a shave.
Socialism is Bolshevism with a shave.
Political history is largely an account of mass violence and of the expenditure of vast resources to cope with mythical read more
Political history is largely an account of mass violence and of the expenditure of vast resources to cope with mythical fears and hopes.
The Vice-Presidency is sort of like the last cookie on the plate. Everybody insists he won't take it, but somebody read more
The Vice-Presidency is sort of like the last cookie on the plate. Everybody insists he won't take it, but somebody always does.
Power kills, absolute power kills absolutely.
Power kills, absolute power kills absolutely.
