The great escape of our times is escape from personal responsibility for the consequences of one's own behavior.

Intellect is not wisdom.

Any politician who starts shouting election-year demagoguery about the rich and the poor should be asked, "What about the other 90 percent of the people?"

One of the painfully sobering realizations that come from reading history is the utter incompetence that is possible among leaders of whole nations and empires - and the blind faith that such leaders can nevertheless inspire among the people who are enthralled by their words or their posturing.

In the long run, the greatest weapon of mass destruction is stupidity.

Helping those who have been struck by unforeseeable misfortunes is fundamentally different from making dependency a way of life.

Trade-offs have been with us ever since the late unpleasantness in the Garden of Eden.