"We are fast approaching the
stage of the ultimate inversion: the stage where the government is free to do
anything it pleases, while the citizens may act only by permission; which is
the stage of the darkest periods of human history, the stage of rule by brute
force." - Ayn Rand
"All the forces in the world
are not so powerful as an idea whose time has come." - Victor Hugo
"We hang the
petty thieves and appoint the great ones to public office" - Aesop
"The only sure
bulwark of continuing liberty is a government strong enough to protect the
interests of the people, and a people strong enough and well enough informed to
maintain its sovereign control over the government." - Franklin Delano Roosevelt
"The
government is merely a servant -- merely a temporary servant; it cannot be its
prerogative to determine what is right and what is wrong, and decide who is a
patriot and who isn't. Its function is to obey orders, not originate them." - Mark Twain
"Naturally the
common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in
America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders
of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag
the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a
parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can
always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to
do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack
of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any
country." - Hermann Goering
"I know of no
safe repository of the ultimate power of society but people. And if we think them
not enlightened enough, the remedy is not to take the power from them, but to
inform them by education." - Thomas
Jefferson
"The citizen
can bring our political and governmental institutions back to life, make them
responsive and accountable, and keep them honest. No one else can." - John Gardner
"Humanity is acquiring all
the right technology for all the wrong reasons." - Buckminster Fuller
