Cicero, 42 B.C. and other Quotes

[Rockntractor]

"It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." - Samuel Adams

[Odysseus]

From Lord Acton:

• “Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
• "Great men are almost always bad men."
• “There is no worse heresy than that the office sanctifies the holder of it.”
• “The one pervading evil of democracy is the tyranny of the majority, or rather of that party, not always the majority, that succeeds, by force or fraud, in carrying elections.”
• "Every thing secret degenerates, even the administration of justice; nothing is safe that does not show how it can bear discussion and publicity."
• "The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern."
• "There is no error so monstrous that it fails to find defenders among the ablest men."

[Rockntractor]

"We have reached the time when it is morally right to "shoot the bastards", but it is not yet practical to do so." - Vin Suprynowicz, cited by Claire Wolfe in a speech before the Arizona Libertarian Party Convention, April 19, 1997

[Rockntractor]

"We learn from history that we do not learn from history." - Georg Wilhelm Hegel

[Rockntractor]

The more you read these quotes the more you realize the fathers of this country and wise men of the past knew we are doomed by our own behaviors and desires, it seems they only hoped for a brief interlude, I hope they enjoyed it.

[Molon Labe]

Just found this thread. Good one Rock.

I'll up your ante on C.S. Lewis quotes

Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil. C. S. Lewis

[FlaGator]

CRANMER’S LAW: “No matter how decent, intelligent or thoughtful the reasoning of a conservative may be, as an argument with a liberal is advanced, the probability of being accused of ‘bigotry’, ‘hatred’ or ‘intolerance’ approaches 1 (100%).”

[FlaGator]

There are only two sides to this question. Every man must be for the United States or against it. There can be no neutrals in this war; only patriots and traitors.

Stephan Douglas

[FlaGator]

In order to clarify the above quote I present this one:

Whether they are defending the Soviet Union or bleating for Saddam Hussein, liberals are always against America. They are either traitors or idiots, and on the matter of America's self-preservation, the difference is irrelevant.

Anne Coulter

[Novaheart]

“In politics we presume that everyone who knows how to get votes knows how to administer a city or a state. When we are ill... we do not ask for the handsomest physician, or the most eloquent one.”
― Plato

However, those who whine about their prediction that some change in policy will prevent them from "choosing my own doctor" often have chosen their doctors for reasons no more relevant than looks or eloquence.

Years ago, Mobil did a survey and discovered that regardless of how well educated about gasoline the public is (and there are indeed sound reasons for quality differences) they still choose a station for convenience and price before considering brand.