Politically, the weakness of the argument has always been that those who choose the lesser evil forget very quickly that they chose evil.

The possible redemption from the predicament of irreversibility──of being unable to undo what one has done──is the faculty of forgiving. The remedy for unpredictability, for the chaotic uncertainty of the future, is contained in the faculty to make and keep promises. Both faculties depend upon plurality, on the presence and acting of others, for no man can forgive himself and no one can be bound by a promise made only to himself.

Every activity performed in public can attain an excellence never matched in privacy; for excellence, by definition, the presence of others is always required.

When an old truth ceases to be applicable, it does not become any truer by being stood on its head.

Plurality of languages: [...] It is crucial 1. that there are many languages and that they differ not only in vocabulary, but also in grammar, and so in mode of thought and 2. that all languages are learnable.

It is a secret from nobody that the famous random event is most likely to arise from those parts of the world where the old adage"There is no alternative to victory" retains a high degree of plausibility.

Political questions are far too serious to be left to the politicians.