To the believer Marxism presents, first, a system of ultimate ends that embody the meaning of life and are absolute standards by which to judge events and actions.

Democracy is a political method, that is to say, a certain type of institutional arrangement for arriving at political — legislative and administrative — decisions and hence incapable of being an end in itself.

Pessimistic visions about almost anything always strike the public as more erudite than optimistic ones

Things economic and social move by their own momentum and the ensuing situations compel individuals and groups to behave in certain ways whatever they may wish to do-not indeed by destroying their freedom of choice but by shaping the choosing mentalities and by narrowing the list of possibilities from which to choose.

Why should we stunt our ambitions and impoverish our lives in order to be insulted and looked down upon in our old age?

We always plan too much and always think too little.

The first thing a man will do for his ideals is lie.