Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made
President should on no account be allowed to do the job.
-- Douglas Adams
If all the world's a stage, I want to operate the trap door.
-- Paul Beatty
We have only one person to blame, and that's each other.
-- Barry Beck
Experience should teach us to be most on our guard to protect liberty
when the government's purposes are beneficent. Men born to freedom are
naturally alert to repel invasion of their liberty by evil-minded rulers.
The greatest dangers to liberty lurk in insidious encroachment by men
of zeal, well-meaning but without understanding.
Louis D. Brandeis
It is proof of a base and low mind for one to wish to think with the
masses or majority, merely because the majority is the majority. Truth
does not change because it is, or is not, believed by a majority of
the people.
-- Giordano Bruno
Thanks, for a country where nobody is allowed to mind his own business.
Thanks, for a nation of finks.
-- William S. Burroughs
I want to make sure everybody who has a job wants a job.
-- George Bush
All extremes are error. The reverse of error is not truth, but error
still. Truth lies between extremes.
-- Cecil
I could never make out what those damned dots meant.
-- Lord Randolph Churchill, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, regarding
decimal points
Democracy is a government where you can say what you think even if you
don't think.
--Winston Churchill
Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this
world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise.
Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government
except all those others that have been tried from time to time.
-- Sir Winston Churchill
Those who can win a war well can rarely make a good peace and those
who could make a good peace would never have won the war.
--Winston Churchill
The price of greatness is responsibility.
--Winston Churchill
There is no finer investment for any community than putting milk into
babies.
--Winston Churchill
I always avoid prophesying beforehand, because it is a much better policy
to prophesy after the event has already taken place.
--Winston Churchill
If we open a quarrel between the past and the present, we shall find
that we have lost the future.
--Winston Churchill
I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped
in a mystery inside an enigma.
--Winston Churchill
The whole history of the world is summed up in the fact that, when nations
are strong, they are not always just, and when they wish to be just,
they are no longer strong.
--Winston Churchill
"The empires of the future are the empires of the mind."
--Winston Churchill
Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty, and so bear ourselves
that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth lasts for a thousand
years, men will still say, 'This was their finest hour.'
--Winston Churchill
Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this
world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise.
Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the 'worst' form of Government
except all those others that have been tried from time to time.
--Winston Churchill
I gather, young man, that you wish to be a Member of Parliament. The
first lesson that you must learn is, when I call for statistics about
the rate of infant mortality, what I want is proof that fewer babies
died when I was Prime Minister than when anyone else was Prime Minister.
That is a political statistic.
--Winston Churchill
An iron curtain has descended across the Continent.
--Winston Churchill
A love for tradition has never weakened a nation, indeed it has strengthened
nations in their hour of peril.
--Winston Churchill
You can always count on Americans to do the right thing -- after they've
tried everything else.
--Winston Churchill
It is a socialist idea that making profits is a vice; I consider the
real vice is making losses.
--Winston Churchill
A communist is like a crocodile: when it opens its mouth you cannot
tell whether it is trying to smile or preparing to eat you up.
--Winston Churchill
The inherent vice of capitalism is the unequal sharing of blessings;
the inherent virtue of socialism is the equal sharing of miseries.
--Winston Churchill
For my part, I consider that it will be found much better by all parties
to leave the past to history, especially as I propose to write that
history myself.
--Winston Churchill
History will be kind to me for I intend to write it.
--Winston Churchill
Of course, we are all worms--but I like to think, at least, that I am
a glowworm.
--Winston Churchill
The police are not here to create disorder. They're here to preserve
disorder.
-- Richard M. Daley at the Democratic National Convention (1968)
You can only protect your liberties in this world by protecting the
other man's freedom. You can only be free if I am free.
--Clarence Darrow
When I was a boy I was told that anybody could become president; I'm
beginning to believe it.
--Clarence Darrow
Liberty is the most jealous and exacting mistress that can beguile the
soul and brain of man.
--Clarence Darrow
True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else.
--Clarence Darrow
A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon it adds up to real money.
-- Senator Everett Dirksen
The President doesn't want any yes-men and yes-women around him. When
he says no, we all say no.
-- Elizabeth Dole, assistant to Ronald Reagan
Through the release of atomic energy, our generation has brought into
the world the most revolutionary force since prehistoric man's discovery
of fire. This basic force of the universe cannot be fitted into the
outmoded concept of narrow nationalisms.
For there is no secret and there is no defense; there is no possibility
of control except through the aroused understanding and insistence of
the peoples of the world. We scientists recognize our inescapable responsibility
to carry to our fellow citizens an understanding of atomic energy and
its implication for society. In this lies our only security and our
only hope -- we believe that an informed citizenry will act for life
and not for death.
-- Albert Einstein
If my theory of relativity is proven correct, Germany will claim me
as a German and France will declare that I am a citizen of the world.
Should my theory prove untrue, France will say that I am a German and
Germany will declare that I am a Jew.
-- Albert Einstein
The minority, the ruling class at present, has the schools and press,
usually the Church as well, under its thumb. This enables it to organize
and sway the emotions of the masses, and make its tool of them.
-- Albert Einstein
Peace cannot be achieved through violence, it can only be attained through
understanding.
-- Albert Einstein
Since I do not foresee that atomic energy is to be a great boon for
a long time, I have to say that for the present it is a menace. Perhaps
it is well that it should be. It may intimidate the human race into
bringing order into it's international affairs, which without the pressure
of fear, it would not do.
-- Albert Einstein
Nor do I take into account a danger of starting a chain reaction of
a scope great enough to destroy part or all of the planet...But it is
not necessary to imagine the earth being destroyed like a nova by a
stellar explosion to understand vividly the growing scope of atomic
war and to recognize that unless another war is prevented it is likely
to bring destruction on a scale never before held possible, and even
now hardly conceived, and that little civilization would survive it.
(1947)
-- Albert Einstein
Unless Americans come to realize that they are not stronger in the world
because they have the bomb but weaker because of their vulnerability
to atomic attack, they are not likely to conduct their policy at Lake
Success [the United Nations] or in their relations with Russia in a
spirit that furthers the arrival at an understanding. (1947)
-- Albert Einstein
The discovery of nuclear chain reactions need not bring about the destruction
of mankind any more than did the discovery of matches. We only must
do everything in our power to safeguard against its abuse. Only a supranational
organization, equipped with a sufficiently strong executive power, can
protect us. (1953)
-- Albert Einstein
Nationalism is an infantile sickness. It is the measles of the human
race.
-- Albert Einstein
Politics is a pendulum whose swings between anarchy and tyranny are
fueled by perpetually rejuvenated illusions.
-- Albert Einstein
Things are more like they are now than they ever were before.
-- Dwight D. Eisenhower
If a million people believe a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing.
-- Anatole France
If you would persuade, you must appeal to interest rather than intellect.
--Benjamin Franklin
Think of these things, whence you came, where you are going, and to
whom you must account.
-- Benjamin Franklin
There is no kind of dishonesty into which otherwise good people more
easily and frequently fall than that of defrauding the government.
--Benjamin Franklin
They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
-- Benjamin Franklin
If Lincoln were alive today, he'd roll over in his grave.
-- Gerald Ford
If I seem to take part in politics, it is only because politics encircles
us today like the coil of a snake from which one cannot get out, no
matter how much one tries. I wish therefore to wrestle with the snake.
-- Mahatma Gandhi
Anarchy may not be the best form of government, but it's better than
no government at all.
-- John Kenneth Galbraith
Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's exactly the
opposite.
-- John Kenneth Galbraith
Anarchism...stands for direct action, the open defiance of, and resistance
to, all laws and restrictions, economic, social, and moral.
-- Emma Goldman
The political arena leaves one no alternatives, one must be either a
dunce or a rogue. -- Emma Goldman
Anarchism aims to strip labor of its deadening, dulling aspect, of its
gloom and compulsion. It aims to make work an instrument of joy, of
strength, of color, of real harmony, so that the poorest sort of a man
should find in work both recreation and hope.
-- Emma Goldman
When I want your opinion, I'll give it to you.
-- Samuel Goldwyn
The word politics is derived from the word poly meaning many and the
word ticks meaning blood sucking parasites.
-- Larry Hardiman
The German people is not warlike nation. It is a soldierly one, which
means it does not want a war but does not fear it. It loves peace but
it also loves its humor and freedom.
--Adolph Hitler
I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty
than to those attending too small a degree of it.
-- Thomas Jefferson to A. Stuart, 1791.
In matters of style, swim with the current;
In matters of principle, stand like a rock.
--Thomas Jefferson
It rests not with ourselves alone to enjoy in peace and concord the
blessings of self-government, so long denied to mankind: to show by
example the sufficiency of human reason for the care of human affairs
and that the will of the majority, the Natural law of every society,
is the only sure guardian of the rights of man.
--Thomas Jefferson
Were it left for me to decide whether we should have a government without
newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate
a moment to prefer the latter.
--Thomas Jefferson
Enlighten people generally, and tyranny and oppressions of body and
mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day.
-- Thomas Jefferson
The strongest reason for people to retain the right to keep and bear
arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in
government.
-- Thomas Jefferson Papers, 334 (C.J.Boyd, Ed., 1950)
The Constitution of most of our states (and of the United States) assert
that all power is inherent in the people; that they may exercise it
by themselves; that it is their right and duty to be at all times armed
and that they are entitled to freedom of person, freedom of religion,
freedom of property, and freedom of press.
-- Thomas Jefferson
No man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The strongest reason
for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last
resort, to protect themselves against the tyranny in government.
-- Thomas Jefferson
Sometimes it is said that man cannot be trusted with the government
of himself. Can he, then, be trusted with the government of others?
-- Thomas Jefferson
I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government
from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care
of them.
-- Thomas Jefferson
The spirit of this country is totally adverse to a large military force.
-- Thomas Jefferson
Laws that forbid the carrying of arms...disarm only
those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes... Such
laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants;
they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed
man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man.
-- Thomas Jefferson, quoting Cesare Beccaria
If we can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people
under the pretense of caring for them, they will be happy.
--Thomas Jefferson
A Bill of Rights is what the people are entitled to against every government,
and what no just government should refuse, or rest on inference.
--Thomas Jefferson
I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form
of tyranny over the mind of man.
-- Thomas Jefferson
[Montesquieu wrote in Spirit of the Laws,] 'In the state of nature,
indeed, all men are born equal; but they cannot continue in this equality.
Society makes them lose it, and they recover it only by the protection
of the laws.'
-- Thomas Jefferson
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal;
that they are endowed by their Creator with inherent and inalienable
rights; that among these, are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness;
that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving
their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any
form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right
of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute new government,
laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers
in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety
and happiness.
-- Thomas Jefferson, Declaration of Independence as written
The people cannot be all, and always, well-informed. The part which
is wrong will be discontented in proportion to the importance of the
facts they misconceive. If they remain quiet under such misconceptions,
it is a lethargy, the forerunner of death to the public liberty.
--Thomas Jefferson to W. Smith, 1787.
It had become an universal and almost uncontroverted position in the
several States, that the purposes of society do not require a surrender
of all our rights to our ordinary governors; that there are certain
portions of right not necessary to enable them to carry on an effective
government, and which experience has nevertheless proved they will be
constantly encroaching on, if submitted to them; that there are also
certain fences which experience has proved peculiarly efficacious against
wrong, and rarely obstructive of right, which yet the governing powers
have ever shown a disposition to weaken and remove. Of the first kind,
for instance, is freedom of religion; of the second, trial by jury,
habeas corpus laws, free presses.
--Thomas Jefferson to N. Webster, 1790.
It is to secure our rights that we resort to government at all.
--Thomas Jefferson to M. D'Ivernois, 1795.
That liberty [is pure] which is to go to all, and not to the few or
the rich alone.
--Thomas Jefferson to H. Gates, 1798.
...wise and frugal government which shall restrain men from injuring
one another, [and] shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their
own pursuits.
--Thomas Jefferson, 1801 Inaugural Address
Laws abridging the natural right of the citizen should be restrained
by rigorous constructions within their narrowest limits.
--Thomas Jefferson to I. McPherson, 1813.
Of liberty I would say that, in the whole plenitude of its extent, it
is unobstructed action according to our will. But rightful liberty is
unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around
us by the equal rights of others. I do not add 'within the limits of
the law,' because law is often but the tyrant's will, and always so
when it violates the right of an individual.
--Thomas Jefferson to I. Tiffany, 1819.
I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of the society but
the people themselves, and if we think them not enlightened enough to
exercise that control with a wholesome discretion, the remedy is not
to take it from them, but to inform their discretion.
-- Thomas Jefferson, 1820.
On every question of construction [of the Constitution], let us carry
ourselves back to the time when the Constitution was adopted, recollect
the spirit manifested in the debates, and instead of trying what meaning
may be squeezed out of the text, or invented against it, conform to
the probable one in which it was passed.
--Thomas Jefferson, letter to William Johnson, June 12, 1823,
Information is the currency of democracy.
-- Thomas Jefferson
If a Nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization,
it expects what never was and never will be...if we are to guard against
ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American
to be informed.
-- Thomas Jefferson
Were we directed from Washington when to sow and when to reap, we should
soon want bread.
-- Thomas Jefferson
If one morning I walked on top of the water across the Potomac River,
the headline that afternoon would read: President Can't Swim.
-- Lyndon B. Johnson
Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation.
-- Henry Kissinger
If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one?
-- Abraham Lincoln
Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's
character, give him power.
-- Abraham Lincoln
Any clod can have the facts. Having opinions is an art.
-- Charles McCabe
Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others.
-- Groucho Marx
I am not a Marxist.
-- Karl Marx
From each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs.
-- Karl Marx
The capitalist system carried within itself the seeds of its own destruction.
-- Karl Marx
In the domain of political economy, free scientific inquiry does not
merely meet the same enemies as in all other domains. The peculiar nature
of the material it deals with summons to the fray on the opposing side
the most violent, sordid and malignant passions of the human breast,
the Furies of private interest. The Established church, for instance,
will more readily pardon an attack on thirty-eight of its thirty-nine
articles than on one thirty-ninth of its income
-- Karl Marx
In the United States...politics is purged of all menace, all sinister
quality, all genuine significance, and stuffed with such gorgeous humors,
such inordinate farce that one comes to the end of a campaign with one's
ribs loose, and ready for ``King Lear,'' or a hanging, or a course of
medical journals.
- H. L. Mencken
Giving every man a vote has no more made men wise and free than Christianity
has made them good.
-- H.L. Mencken (1880-1956)
It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor
of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever
ineligible for public office.
-- H. L. Mencken.
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want and
deserve to get it good and hard.
-- H. L. Mencken
Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are
conservatives.
-- John Stuart Mill (1806-1873)
Authority has always attracted the lowest elements in the human race.
All through history, mankind has been bullied by scum. Those who lord
it over their fellows and toss commands in every direction and would
boss the grass in the meadow about which way to bend in the wind are
the most depraved kind of prostitutes. They will submit to any indignity,
perform any vile act, do anything to achieve power. The worst off-sloughings
of the planet are the ingredients of sovereignty. Every government is
a parliament of whores. The trouble is, in a democracy the whores are
us.
-- P. J. O'Rourke
The mystery of government is not how Washington works but how to make
it stop.
- P. J. O'Rourke
I deserve respect for the things I didn't do.
-- Dan Quayle
We are not ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not occur.
-- Dan Quayle
My fellow Americans, I've signed legislation that will outlaw Russia
forever. We begin bombing in five minutes.
-- Ronald Reagan before a radio broadcast, not realizing the microphone
was already on
The streets are safe in Philadelphia, it's only the people that make
them unsafe.
-- Frank Rizzo, former mayor of Philadelphia
Why should we put ourselves out of our way to serve posterity? For what
has posterity ever done for us?
-- Sir Boyle Roche
No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion,
the American people in their righteous might will win though to absolute
victory.... ....with confidence in our armed forces -- with the unbounding
determination of our people -- we will gain the inevitable triumph --
so help us god.
-- President Franklin D Roosevelt, December 8th, 1941,Speaking to the
American people after the attack on Pearl Harbor
To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that
we are to stand by the president right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic
and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.
--Theodore Roosevelt
In the fall of 1972 President Nixon announced that the rate of increase
of inflation was decreasing. This was the first time a sitting president
used the third derivative to advance his case for reelection.
-- Hugo Rossi
Man is born free but everywhere is in chains.
--Jean-Jacques Rousseau
Good laws lead to the making of better ones; bad ones bring about worse.
--Jean-Jacques Rousseau
The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always
so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.
-- Bertrand Russell
I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong.
-- Bertrand Russell
The President has kept all of the promises he intended to keep.
-- George Stephanopolous, former White House spokesman, on Larry King
Live
The first who was king was a fortunate soldier:
Who serves his country well has no need of ancestors.
-- Voltaire
America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without
civilization in between.
-- Oscar Wilde
I fear all we have done is to wake a sleeping giant, and fill him with
a terrible resolve.
--Japanese Admiral Yamamoto, after the attack on Pearl Harbor
Power corrupts, but we need electricity.
-- anon
