Silence is often the best thing to say.
Reason is the first victim of strong emotion.
Governments can be useful to the governed only so long as inherent tendencies toward tyranny are restrained.
Technology is both a tool for helping humans and for destroying them. This is the paradox of our times which we're compelled to face.
Most believe that a satisfactory future requires a return to an idealized past, a past which never in fact existed.
When you think you know something: that is a most perfect barrier against learning.
When a wise man does not understand, he says: "I do not understand." The fool and the uncultured are ashamed of their ignorance. They remain silent when a question could bring them wisdom.
No matter how much we ask after the truth, self-awareness is often unpleasant. We do not feel kindly toward the Truthsayer.
Without change, something sleeps inside us, and seldom awakens. The sleeper must awaken.
Every civilization depends on the quality of the individuals it produces. If you over-organize humans, over-legalize them, suppress their urge to greatness-they cannot work and their civilization collapses.
Most civilisation is based on cowardice. It's so easy to civilize by teaching cowardice. You water down the standards which would lead to bravery. You restrain the will. You regulate the appetites. You fence in the horizons. You make a law for every movement. You deny the existence of chaos. You teach even the children to breathe slowly. You tame.
Education is no substitute for intelligence.
Power attracts the corruptible. Suspect any who seek it.
Small souls who seek power over others first destroy the faith those others might have in themselves.
Truth suffers from too much analysis.
The purpose of argument is to change the nature of truth.
Every civilization depends upon the quality of the individuals it produces.
When I need to identify rebels, I look for men with principles
Politics: the art of appearing candid and completely open while concealing as much as possible.
Always prepare secondary ways of dealing with problems.
Ideas are a dime a dozen. It's execution that counts.
Beware of the truth, gentle Sister. Although much sought after, truth can be dangerous to the seeker. Myths and reassuring lies are much easier to find and believe. If you find a truth, even a temporary one, it can demand that you make painful changes. Conceal your truths within words. Natural ambiguity will protect you then.
Good governance never depends upon laws, but upon the personal qualities of those who govern. The machinery of government is always subordinate to the will of those who administer that machinery. The most important element of government, therefore, is the method of choosing leaders.
This wise man observed that wealth is a tool of freedom. But the pursuit of wealth is the way to slavery.
I don’t think it’s quite that simple. Some people never observe anything, Life just happens to them. They get by on little more than a kind of dumb persistence, and they resist with anger and resentment anything that might lift them out of that false serenity.
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