“One has to be a lowbrow, a bit of a murderer, to be a politician, ready and willing to see people sacrificed, slaughtered, for the sake of an idea, whether a good one or a bad one.”
Help us to complete the source, original and additional information
Henry Miller 187
American novelist 1891–1980Related quotes
“The way to get good ideas is to get lots of ideas, and throw the bad ones away.”
Variant: The best way to have a good idea is to have lots of ideas.
“The cynic is one who never sees a good quality in a man and never fails to see a bad one.”
Lectures to Young Men: On Various Important Subjects (1856) Lecture IV : Portrait Gallery
Miscellany
Context: The cynic is one who never sees a good quality in a man and never fails to see a bad one. He is the human owl, vigilant in darkness and blind to light, mousing for vermin, and never seeing noble game. The cynic puts all human actions into two classes — openly bad and secretly bad.
Source: Assassination Vacation (2005), p. 208
Letter to E.L. Godkin (24 December 1895)
1890s
Variant: There are two types of people in this world, good and bad. The good sleep better, but the bad seem to enjoy the waking hours much more.
“If one plays good music, people don't listen, and if one plays bad music people don't talk.”
Algernon, Act I.
Source: The Importance of Being Earnest (1895)
Context: Of course the music is a great difficulty. You see, if one plays good music, people don't listen, and if one plays bad music people don't talk.
Narrated in Saheeh Muslim, Book 021, Number 4810
Sunni Hadith