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    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.

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Where does virgin wool come from? The sheep that runs the fastest.

Where does virgin wool come from? The sheep that runs the fastest.

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The majority is never right. Never, I tell you! That's one of these lies in society that no free and read more

The majority is never right. Never, I tell you! That's one of these lies in society that no free and intelligent man can help rebelling against. Who are the people that make up the biggest proportion of the population -- the intelligent ones or the fools? I think we can agree it's the fools, no matter where you go in this world, it's the fools that form the overwhelming majority.

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Free institutions are not the property of any majority. They do not confer upon majorities unlimited powers. The rights of read more

Free institutions are not the property of any majority. They do not confer upon majorities unlimited powers. The rights of the majority are limited rights. They are limited not only by the constitutional guarantees but by the moral principle implied in those guarantees. That principle is that men may not use the facilities of liberty to impair them. No man may invoke a right in order to destroy it.

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If a politician murders his mother, the first response of the press or of his opponents will likely be not read more

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If you seek violence, we will seek to put you in jail.

If you seek violence, we will seek to put you in jail.

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  13  /  34  

Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives.

Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives.

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  10  /  10  

All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small read more

All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field.

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Inflation is as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber and as deadly as a hit man.

Inflation is as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber and as deadly as a hit man.

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There must be no barriers for freedom of inquiry. There is no place for dogma in science. The scientist is read more

There must be no barriers for freedom of inquiry. There is no place for dogma in science. The scientist is free, and must be free to ask any question, to doubt any assertion, to seek for any evidence, to correct any errors.

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