Has the art of politics no apparent utility? Does it appear to be unqualifiedly ratty, raffish, sordid, obscene, and low down, andits salient virtuosi a gang of unmitigated scoundrels? Then let us not forget its high capacity to soothe and tickle the midriff, its incomparable services as a maker of entertainment.

Socialism: nothing more than the theory that the slave is always more virtuous than his master.

It is common to assume that human progress affects everyone - that even the dullest man, in these bright days, knows more than any man of, say, the Eighteenth Century, and is far more civilized. This assumption is quite erroneous. . . . The great masses of men, even in this inspired republic, are precisely where the mob was at the dawn of history. They are ignorant, they are dishonest, they are cowardly, they are ignoble. They know little if anything that is worth knowing, and there is not the slightest sign of a natural desire among them to increase their knowledge.

It is only doubt that creates. It is only the minority that counts.

Evil: That which one believes of others. It is a sin to believe evil of others, but it is seldom a mistake

All I ask is equal freedom. When it is denied, as it always is, I take it anyhow.

For it is mutual trust, even more than mutual interest that holds human associations together.