The democratic idealist is prone to make light of the whole question of standards and leadership because of his unbounded faith in the plain people.

According to the new ethics, virtue is not restrictive but expansive, a sentiment and even an intoxication.

Robespierre, however, was not the type of leader finally destined to emerge from the Revolution.

Anyone who thus looks up has some chance of becoming worthy to be looked up to in turn.

It is well to open one's mind but only as a preliminary to closing it ... for the supreme act of judgment and selection.

The human mind, if it is to keep its sanity, must maintain the nicest balance between unity and plurality.

If a man went simply by what he saw, he might be tempted to affirm that the essence of democracy is melodrama.