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first biological lesson of history is that life is competition.
Our states, being ourselves multiplied, are what we are;
only the man who is below the average in economic ability desires equality; those who are conscious of superior ability desire freedom; and in the end superior ability has its way.
conservative who resists change is as valuable as the radical who proposes it—perhaps
Man’s sins may be the relics of his rise rather than the stigmata of his fall.
We must remind ourselves again that history as usually written (peccavimus) is quite different from history as usually lived:
“As long as there is poverty there will be gods.”32
“the men who can manage men manage the men who can manage only things, and the men who can manage money manage all.”34
The fear of capitalism has compelled socialism to widen freedom, and the fear of socialism has compelled capitalism to increase equality.
“you can’t fool all the people all the time,” but you can fool enough of them to rule a large country.
Peace is an unstable equilibrium, which can be preserved only by acknowledged supremacy or equal power.
In organic periods men are busy building; in critical periods they are busy destroying.69
Death is natural, and if it comes in due time it is forgivable and useful, and the mature mind will take no offense from its coming.
ethic—a moral code independent of religion—strong enough to keep our instincts of acquisition, pugnacity, and sex from debasing our civilization into a mire of greed, crime, and promiscuity?
