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To desire the attainment of this equality or superiority by the particular means of others being brought down to our read more
To desire the attainment of this equality or superiority by the particular means of others being brought down to our own level, or below it, is, I think, the distinct notion of envy.
In every tyrant's heart there springs in the end this poison, that he cannot trust a friend.
In every tyrant's heart there springs in the end this poison, that he cannot trust a friend.
It is a dangerous and idle dream to think that the state can become rule by philosophers turned kings or read more
It is a dangerous and idle dream to think that the state can become rule by philosophers turned kings or scientists turned commissars. For if philosophers become kings or scientists commissars, they become politicians, and the powers given to the state are powers given to men who are rulers of states, men subject to all the limitations and temptations of their dangerous craft. Unless this is borne in mind, there will be a dangerous optimistic tendency to sweep aside doubts and fears as irrelevant, since, in the state that the projectors have in mind, power will be exercised by men of a wisdom and degree of moral virtue that we have not yet seen. It won't. It will be exercised by men who will be men first and rulers next and scientists and saints long after.
The real "haves" are they who can acquire freedom, self-confidence, and even riches without depriving others of them. They acquire read more
The real "haves" are they who can acquire freedom, self-confidence, and even riches without depriving others of them. They acquire all of these by developing and applying their potentialities. On the other hand, the real "have nots" are they who cannot have aught except by depriving others of it. They can feel free only by diminishing the freedom of others, self-confident by spreading fear and dependence among others, and rich by making others poor.
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.
It is the fundamental theory of all the more recent American law...that the average citizen is half-witted, and hence not read more
It is the fundamental theory of all the more recent American law...that the average citizen is half-witted, and hence not to be trusted to either his own devices or his own thoughts.
A conservative is a man who just sits and thinks, mostly sits.
A conservative is a man who just sits and thinks, mostly sits.
Power kills, absolute power kills absolutely.
Power kills, absolute power kills absolutely.
Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men's minds.
Our whole constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men's minds.
