Those who see their lives as spoiled and wasted crave equality and fraternity more than they do freedom. If they clamor for freedom, it is but freedom to establish equality and uniformity. The passion for equality is partly a passion for anonymity: to be one thread of the many which make up a tunic; one thread not distinguishable from the others. No one can then point us out, measure us against others and expose our inferiority.
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Fifty-one percent of a nation can establish a totalitarian regime, suppress minorities and still remain democratic.
Fifty-one percent of a nation can establish a totalitarian regime, suppress minorities and still remain democratic.
No one ever heard of the truth being enforced by law. Whenever the secular arm is called in to sustain read more
No one ever heard of the truth being enforced by law. Whenever the secular arm is called in to sustain an idea, whether new or old, it is always a bad idea, and not infrequently it is downright idiotic.
The United States brags about its political system, but the President says one thing during the election, something else when read more
The United States brags about its political system, but the President says one thing during the election, something else when he takes office, something else at midterm and something else when he leaves.
I don't know exactly what democracy is. But we need more of it.
I don't know exactly what democracy is. But we need more of it.
The correct strategy for Americans negotiating with Japanese or other foreign clients is a Japanese strategy: ask questions. When you read more
The correct strategy for Americans negotiating with Japanese or other foreign clients is a Japanese strategy: ask questions. When you think you understand, ask more questions. Carefully feel for pressure points. If an impasse is reached, don't pressure. Suggest a recess or another meeting.
Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Discontent is likely to be highest when misery is bearable; when conditions have so improved that an ideal state seems read more
Discontent is likely to be highest when misery is bearable; when conditions have so improved that an ideal state seems almost within reach. A grievance is most poignant when almost redressed. De Tocqueville in his researches into the state of society in France before the revolution was struck by the discovery that "in no one of the periods which have followed the Revolution of 1789 has the national prosperity of France augmented more rapidly than it did in the twenty years preceding that event." He is forced to conclude that "the French found their position the more intolerable the better it became.
Freedom released the energies of the masses not by exhilarating but by unbalancing, irritating, and goading.
Freedom released the energies of the masses not by exhilarating but by unbalancing, irritating, and goading.
Politics makes strange bed-fellows.
Politics makes strange bed-fellows.
