Democracy is the only system that persists in asking the powers that be whether they are the powers that ought to be.

Nuclear war is inevitable, says the pessimists; Nuclear war is impossible, says the optimists; Nuclear war is inevitable unless we make it impossible, says the realists.

Elitism is the slur directed at merit by mediocrity.

The art of living consists in knowing which impulses to obey and which must be made to obey.

"Terrorism" is what we call the violence of the weak, and we condemn it; "war" is what we call the violence of the strong, and we glorify it.

Those who imagine that the world is against them have generally conspired to make it true.

Genealogy: A perverse preoccupation of those who seek to demonstrate that their forebears were better people than they are.