The greatest enemy of authority, therefore, is contempt, and the surest way to undermine it is laughter.

Under conditions of terror, most people will comply but some people will not.

... we may remember what the Romansthought a cultivated person ought to be: one who knows how to choose his company among men, among things, among thoughts, in the present as well as in the past.

The end of rebellion is liberation, while the end of revolution is the foundation of freedom.

It is better to suffer wrong than to do wrong, because you can remain the friend of the sufferer; who would want to be the friend of and have to live together with a murderer? Not even another murderer.

Only the mob and the elite can be attracted by the momentum of totalitarianism itself. The masses have to be won by propaganda.

Generally speaking, violence always arises out of impotence. It is the hope of those who have no power.