Alexis de Tocqueville

No sooner does a government attempt to go beyond its political sphere… than it exercises… insupportable tyranny.

The Revolution… was the result of a mature and reflecting preference for freedom, and not of a vague or ill-defined craving for independence.

The democratic tendency… leads men unceasingly to multiply the privileges of the state and to circumscribe the rights of private persons… often sacrificed without regret and almost always violated without remorse… men become less and less attached to private rights just when it is most necessary to retain and defend what little remains of them.

The despotism of faction is not less to be dreaded than the despotism of an individual.

Defending rights against the encroachments of the government saves the common liberties of the country.

It profits me but little, after all, that a vigilant authority… averts all dangers from my path… if this same authority is the absolute master of my liberty and my life.

I am concerned for the security of our great Nation; not so much because of any treat from without, but because of the insidious forces working from within.

Politics has got so expensive that it takes lots of money to even get beat with.

[on Bill and Hillary Clinton] Everybody in politics lies, but they do it with such ease, it’s troubling.

Economic control…is the control of the means for all our ends. And whoever has control of the means must also determine which ends are to be served.

The North has been held back by out of touch Westminster politicians. Let’s hand power to northern communities to manage their transport systems.

A man’s eyes should be torn out if he can only see the past

The difference between a democracy and a dictatorship is that in a democracy you vote first and take orders later; in a dictatorship you don’t have to waste your time voting.

A very, in a sense, terrifying aspect of our society, and other societies, is the equanimity and the detachment with which sane, reasonable, sensible people can observe [war]. I think that’s more terrifying than the occasional Hitler or LeMay or other that crops up. These people would not be able to operate were it not for this apathy and equanimity…and therefore I think that it’s, in some sense, the sane and reasonable and tolerant people who share a very serious burden of guilt that they very easily throw on the shoulders of others who seem more extreme and violent.

Work continuously to trim the White House staff from your first day to your last. All the pressures are to the contrary.

That government is best which governs least.

When you raise issues with the President, try to come away with both that decision and also a precedent. Pose issues so as to evoke broader policy guidance. This can help to answer a range of similar issues likely to arise later.

A country in which the people are not healthy physically and psychologically, are poorly educated and illiterate, will never rise to the peaks of world civilization.

Another way to solve the traffic problems of this country is to pass a law that only paid-for cars be allowed to use the highways.

When Lebanon started its resistance it was a small and divided country.

The logical thing is to implement the Arab Defense Agreement.