Television has made dictatorship impossible, but democracy unbearable.
—Shimon Peres, 1995Quotes
I’m president of the United States, and I’m not going to eat any more broccoli!
—George H. W. Bush, 1990A real leader is somebody who can help us overcome the limitations of our own individual laziness and selfishness and weakness and fear and get us to do better, harder things than we can get ourselves to do on our own.
—David Foster Wallace, 2000Envy is the basis of democracy.
—Bertrand Russell, 1930There is no method by which men can be both free and equal.
—Walter Bagehot, 1863You should never have your best trousers on when you go out to fight for freedom and truth.
—Henrik Ibsen, 1882I work for a government I despise for ends I think criminal.
—John Maynard Keynes, 1917Written laws are like spiderwebs: they will catch, it is true, the weak and poor but would be torn in pieces by the rich and powerful.
—Anacharsis, c. 550 BCLet him who desires peace prepare for war.
—Vegetius, c. 385My people and I have come to an agreement that satisfies us both. They are to say what they please, and I am to do what I please.
—Frederick the Great, c. 1770If you must take care that your opinions do not differ in the least from those of the person with whom you are talking, you might just as well be alone.
—Yoshida Kenko, c. 1330The first requirement of a statesman is that he be dull.
—Dean Acheson, 1970On the loftiest throne in the world, we still sit only on our own rump.
—Michel de Montaigne, 1580