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Absence of thought is indeed a powerful factor in human affairs — statistically speaking the most powerful.
— Hannah Arendt (1906-1975), American political philosopher
In every age liberty’s progress has been beset by its natural enemies, by ignorance and superstition, by lust of conquest and by love of ease, by the strong man’s craving for power, and the poor man’s craving for food.
— Lord Acton (1834-1902), English historian
The Twelve Good Rules:
1. Urge no healths. 2. Profane no divine ordinances. 3. Touch no state matters. 4. Reveal no secrets. 5. Pick no quarrels. 6. Make no comparisons. 7. Maintain no ill opinions. 8. Keep no bad company. 9.Encourage no vice. 10. Make no long meals. 11. Repeat no grievances. 12. Lay no wagers.
— Charles I (1600-1649), King of Britain and Ireland
I read in the newspapers they are going to have 30 minutes of intellectual stuff on television every Monday from 7:30 to 8 to educate America. They couldn’t educate America if they started at 6:30.
— Groucho Marx
War is a biological necessity of the first importance, a regulative element in the life of mankind which cannot be dispensed with. But it is not only a biological law but a moral obligation, and, as such, and indispensible factor in civilization.
— Friedrich A. J. Von Bernhardi, (1849-1930), German general
There are three ways by which an individual can get wealthy — by work, by gift and by theft. And clearly, the reason why the workers get so little is that the beggars and thieves get so much.
— Henry George (1939-1897), American economist
The rulers of the state are the only ones who would have the privilege of lying, either at home or abroad; they may be allowed to lie for the good of the State.
— Plato (428-348 B.C.), Athenian philosopher, “The Republic”
Democracy is hypocrisy without limitation.
— Iskander Mirza (1899-1969), president of Pakistan, quoted in Time, Oct. 20, 1958
The remedy in the United States is not less liberty but real liberty — an end to the brutal intolerance of churchly hooligans and flag-waving corporations and all the rest of the small but bloody despots who have made the word Americanism a synonym for coercion and legal crime.
— Archibald MacLeish (1892-1982), American poet, essayist
The most radical revolutionary will become a conservative the day after the revolution.
— Hannah Arendt (1906-1975), German-born American political philosopher
