We have perhaps a natural fear of ends. We would rather be always on the way than arrive. Given the read more

We have perhaps a natural fear of ends. We would rather be always on the way than arrive. Given the means, we hang on to them and often forget the ends.

Rank and riches are chains of gold, but still chains.

Rank and riches are chains of gold, but still chains.

A democratic despotism is like a theocracy: it assumes its own correctness.

A democratic despotism is like a theocracy: it assumes its own correctness.

We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.

We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.

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

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

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.

The frustrated follow a leader less because of their faith that he is leading them to a promised land than read more

The frustrated follow a leader less because of their faith that he is leading them to a promised land than because of their immediate feeling that he is leading them away from their unwanted selves. Surrender to a leader is not a means to an end but a fulfillment. Whither they are led is of secondary importance.

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.

The most heroic word in all languages is revolution.

The most heroic word in all languages is revolution.