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.
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Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.
Whenever a man has cast a longing eye on offices, a rottenness begins in his conduct.
You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the read more
You do not examine legislation in the light of the benefits it will convey if properly administered, but in the light of the wrongs it would do and the harms it would cause if improperly administered.
The right to be let alone is the underlying principle of the Constitution's Bill of Rights.
The right to be let alone is the underlying principle of the Constitution's Bill of Rights.
Government and state can never be perfect because they owe their raison d'etre to the imperfection of man and can read more
Government and state can never be perfect because they owe their raison d'etre to the imperfection of man and can attain their end, the elimination of man's innate impulse to violence, only by recourse to violence, the very thing they are called upon to prevent.
The only kind of freedom that the mob can imagine is freedom to annoy and oppress its betters, and that read more
The only kind of freedom that the mob can imagine is freedom to annoy and oppress its betters, and that is precisely the kind that we mainly have.
None can love freedom but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license, which never hath more scope than read more
None can love freedom but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license, which never hath more scope than under tyrants.
I met someone on the street who said wasn't it great that we're going to have a movie star for read more
I met someone on the street who said wasn't it great that we're going to have a movie star for president, that it was so Pop, and (laughs) when you think about it like that, it is great, it's so American.
...democracy can be interpreted to assert not only equality before the law but also essentialistic identity in all respects. This read more
...democracy can be interpreted to assert not only equality before the law but also essentialistic identity in all respects. This is expressed in the claim, "All men are created equal," which is something very different from the statement, "All men have equal rights and are equal before the law." Anyone who believes in the genetic uniqueness of every individual thereby believes in the conclusion, "No two individuals are created equal.".
It is the invariable habit of bureaucracies, at all times and everywhere, to assume...that every citizen is a criminal. Their read more
It is the invariable habit of bureaucracies, at all times and everywhere, to assume...that every citizen is a criminal. Their one apparent purpose, pursued with a relentless and furious diligence, is to convert the assumption into a fact. They hunt endlessly for proofs, and, when proofs are lacking, for mere suspicions. The moment they become aware of a definite citizen, John Doe, seeking what is his right under the law, they begin searching feverishly for an excuse for withholding it from him.
