It is all very well to talk about being the captain of your soul. It is hard, and only a few heroes, saints, and geniuses have been the captains of their souls for any extended period of their lives. Most men, after a little freedom, have preferred authority with the consoling assurances and the economy of effort which it brings.
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The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is read more
The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime, and the punishment of his guilt.
The world of politics is always twenty years behind the world of thought.
The world of politics is always twenty years behind the world of thought.
The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity, since the tastes, knowledge, and principles of the majority form read more
The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity, since the tastes, knowledge, and principles of the majority form the tribunal of appeal.
The essence of democracy is not that everyone makes and administers laws but that lawgivers and rulers should be dependent read more
The essence of democracy is not that everyone makes and administers laws but that lawgivers and rulers should be dependent on the people's will in such a way that they may be peaceably changed if conflict occurs.
The aspiration toward freedom is the most essentially human of all human manifestations.
The aspiration toward freedom is the most essentially human of all human manifestations.
The war for liberty never ends. One day liberty has to be defended against the power of wealth, on another read more
The war for liberty never ends. One day liberty has to be defended against the power of wealth, on another day against the intrigues of politicians, on another against the dead hand of bureaucrats, on another against the patrioter and the militarist, on another against the profiteer, and then against the hysteria and the passions of the mobs, against obscurantism and stupidity, against the criminal and against the overrighteous. In this campaign every civilized man is enlisted till he dies, and he only has known the full joy of living who somewhere and at some time has struck a decisive blow for the freedom of the human spirit.
The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity.
The tendency of democracies is, in all things, to mediocrity.
The plans differ; the planners are all alike...
The plans differ; the planners are all alike...
He loved politicians - even Republicans.
He loved politicians - even Republicans.
