The career of politics grants a feeling of power. The knowledge of influencing men, of participating in power over them, and above all, the feeling of holding in one's hands a nerve fiber of historically important events can elevate the professional politician above everyday routine even when he is placed in formally modest positions.

specialists without spirit, sensualists without heart; this nullity imagines that it has attained a level of civilization never before achieved.

A government is an institution that holds a monopoly on the legitimate use of violence.

Within the confines of the lecture hall, no other virtue exists but plain intellectual integrity.

A highly developed stock exchange cannot be a club for the cult of ethics.

Politics means striving to share power or striving to influence the distribution of power, either among states or among groups within a state.

One cannot with impunity try to transfer this task entirely to mechanical assistants if one wishes to figure something, even though the final result is often small indeed.