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2026 June 02
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"So, what the cultural elites are doing is what plenty of other authoritarian and totalitarian societies have done in the past. They are making the cost of telling the truth high enough that a general mass of people will be afraid to declare it publicly or even privately. " |
"We cannot afford to differ on the question of honesty
if we expect our republic permanently to endure.
Honesty is not so much a credit as an absolute prerequisite
to efficient service to the public.
Unless a man is honest, we have no right to keep him in public life;
it matters not how brilliant his capacity." |
"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." |
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2026 June 01
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"There is but one straight course, and
that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily." |
"The moment we no longer have a free press, anything can happen. What makes it possible for a totalitarian or any other dictatorship to rule is that people are not informed; how can you have an opinion if you are not informed? If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer. This is because lies, by their very nature, have to be changed, and a lying government has constantly to rewrite its own history. On the receiving end you get not only one lie -- a lie which you could go on for the rest of your days -- but you get a great number of lies, depending on how the political wind blows. And a people that no longer can believe anything cannot make up its mind. It is deprived not only of its capacity to act but also of its capacity to think and to judge. And with such a people you can then do what you please." |
"Secrecy and a free, democratic government don’t mix." |
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