Aphorisms Galore!

Law and Politics

163 aphorisms  ·  7 comments

Aphorisms in This Category

tiny.ag/z8yeojw9  ·  submitted 1997

Democracy is a government where you can say what you think even if you don't think.

Unknown, in Law and Politics

tiny.ag/yfwenbfh  ·  submitted 1997

Capitalism is the unequal distribution of wealth -- communism is the equal distribution of poverty.

Unknown, in Law and Politics

tiny.ag/grvjpk8x  ·  submitted 1997

"Political economy" is a phrase consisting of two incompatible words.

Unknown, (from Politicians and Other Scoundrels by Ferdinand Lundberg), in Law and Politics

tiny.ag/5e9cdaq6  ·  submitted 1997

No nation ancient or modern ever lost the liberty of freely speaking, writing, or publishing their sentiments, but forthwith lost their liberty in general and became slaves.

John Peter Zenger, in Law and Politics

tiny.ag/yh5kxuzq  ·  submitted 1997

Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul.

Mark Twain, (inscription beneath his bust in the Hall of Fame), in Law and Politics

tiny.ag/sq8ko4bm  ·  submitted 1997

America is the only country that went from barbarism to decadence without civilization in between.

Oscar Wilde, in Law and Politics

tiny.ag/5u0stmi1  ·  submitted 1997

A conservative is a man who believes that nothing should be done for the first time.

Alfred E. Wiggam, in Law and Politics

tiny.ag/kzothtfn  ·  submitted 1997

For every action, there is an equal and opposite government program.

Bob Wells, in Law and Politics

tiny.ag/f4xotdy1  ·  submitted 1997

I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it.

Voltaire, in Law and Politics

tiny.ag/jjhww8cq  ·  submitted 1997

I disapprove of what you say, but will defend to the death your right to say it.

Voltaire, in Law and Politics

tiny.ag/is5ffzu6  ·  submitted 1997

A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy, but won't cross the street to vote in a national election.

Bill Vaughan, in Law and Politics and War and Peace

tiny.ag/weoyuknk  ·  submitted 1997

Politics is the art of preventing people from busying themselves with what is their own business.

Paul Valéry, (from Politicians and Other Scoundrels by Ferdinand Lundberg), in Law and Politics

tiny.ag/mwoxawkr  ·  submitted 1997

Reader, suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.

Mark Twain, in Law and Politics

tiny.ag/zzcxms0q  ·  submitted 1997

It is by the goodness of God that in our country we have those three unspeakably precious things: freedom of speech, freedom of conscience, and the prudence never to practice either.

Mark Twain, in Law and Politics

tiny.ag/yuvqmpjc  ·  submitted 1997

Men make history, and not the other way around. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.

Harry S Truman, in Law and Politics

tiny.ag/a1rdjbky  ·  submitted 1997

When you have an efficient government, you have a dictatorship.

Harry S Truman, in Law and Politics

tiny.ag/cjhepgxr  ·  submitted 1997

Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison.

Henry David Thoreau, in Law and Politics

tiny.ag/r8irgp4q  ·  submitted 1997

Every government is run by liars and nothing they say should be believed.

I. F. Stone, in Law and Politics

tiny.ag/fiog0z7u  ·  submitted 1997

The Devil's Dictionary (paperback)

Alliance: In international politics, the union of two thieves who have their hands so deeply inserted into each others' pockets that they cannot separately plunder a third.

Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, in Law and Politics and War and Peace

tiny.ag/lvxaopme  ·  submitted 1997

The Devil's Dictionary (paperback)

Accuse: To affirm another's guilt or unworth; most commonly as a justification of ourselves for having wronged them.

Ambrose Bierce, The Devil's Dictionary, in Law and Politics