Society and the World

We cannot expect people to have respect for law and order until we teach respect to those we have entrusted to enforce those laws.

The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts.

The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away, for expedience, and by parts.

No man undertakes a trade he has not learned, even the meanest; yet everyone thinks himself sufficiently qualified for the hardest of all trades—that of government.

No man undertakes a trade he has not learned, even the meanest; yet everyone thinks himself sufficiently qualified for the hardest of all trades—that of government.

Among a people generally corrupt, liberty cannot long exist.

Among a people generally corrupt, liberty cannot long exist.

Being powerful is like being a lady. If you have to tell people you are, you aren’t.

Power is action; the electoral principle is discussion. No political action is possible when discussion is permanently established.

Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.

A party is perpetually corrupted by personality.

The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.

A nation never falls but by suicide.

The surface of American society is covered with a layer of democratic paint, but from time to time one can see the old aristocratic colors breaking through.

The surface of American society is covered with a layer of democratic paint, but from time to time one can see the old aristocratic colors breaking through.

The desire of power in excess caused the angels to fall.

Those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.

Those who foolishly sought power by riding the back of the tiger ended up inside.

The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.

The modern conservative is engaged in one of man’s oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness.

Of all the sources of human pride, mere wealth is the basest and most vulgar-minded. Real gentlemen are almost invariably above this low feeling.

Of all the sources of human pride, mere wealth is the basest and most vulgar-minded. Real gentlemen are almost invariably above this low feeling.

The value systems of those with access to power and of those far removed from such access cannot be the same. The viewpoint of the privileged is unlike that of the underprivileged.

The value systems of those with access to power and of those far removed from such access cannot be the same. The viewpoint of the privileged is unlike that of the underprivileged.