“In democratic countries, the most important private organizations are economic. Unlike secret societies, they are able to exercize their terrorism without illegality, since they do not threaten to kill their enemies, but only to starve them.”

— Bertrand Russell

Source: 1930s, Power: A New Social Analysis (1938), Ch. 12: Powers and forms of governments

Adopted from Wikiquote. Last update Sept. 29, 2023. History

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Do you have more details about the quote "In democratic countries, the most important private organizations are economic. Unlike secret societies, they are able …" by Bertrand Russell?

Bertrand Russell 562

logician, one of the first analytic philosophers and politi… 1872–1970

Related quotes

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.”

Edward Bernays book Propaganda

Source: Propaganda (1928), p. 37 
Context: The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds are molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of. This is a logical result of the way in which our democratic society is organized. Vast numbers of human beings must cooperate in this manner if they are to live together as a smoothly functioning society.

“A democratic country has zero tolerance for all illegal monitoring operations.”

Jiang Yi-huah (1960) Taiwanese politician

Jiang Yi-huah (2013) cited in " Jiang defends Cabinet ahead of poll http://www.chinapost.com.tw/taiwan/national/national-news/2013/10/15/391346/Jiang-defends.htm" on The China Post, 15 October 2013

“There are no globalized, youth-led, grassroots social movements advocating for democratic culture across Muslim-majority societies. There is no equivalent of Al-Qaeda without the terrorism.”

Maajid Nawaz (1977) British activist

A global culture to fight extremism - Maajid Nawaz | TED-Ed https://www.ted.com/talks/maajid_nawaz_a_global_culture_to_fight_extremism (July 2011)

“It is not possible to remake this country, to democratize it, humanize it, make it serious, as long as we have teenagers killing people for play and offending life, destroying the dream, and making love unviable. If education alone cannot transform society, without it society cannot change either.”

Paulo Freire (1921–1997) educator and philosopher

Source: Pedagogia da indignação (Pedagogy of Indignation) (2000, English trans. 2004), p. 47 [32]

“So long as governments set the example of killing their enemies, private individuals will occasionally kill theirs.”

Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) American writer, publisher, artist, and philosopher fue el escritor del jarron azul

Source: Elbert Hubbard's Scrap Book

“Stop threatening me… I've lived in terror and I've come out of it. Kill me or not, torture me or not, it doesn't matter to me. Just decide what to do.”

Orson Scott Card (1951) American science fiction novelist

Homecoming saga, The Call Of Earth (1992)

“The terror of society, which is the basis of morals, the terror of God, which is the secret of religion-these are the two things that govern us.”

Oscar Wilde book The Picture of Dorian Gray

Source: The Picture of Dorian Gray

“Do you realize sufficiently what it means to rule—to rule in a secret society? Not only over the lesser or more important of the populace, but over the best of men, over men of all ranks, nations, and religions, to rule without external force, to unite them indissolubly, to breathe one spirit and soul into them, men distributed over all parts of the world?”

Adam Weishaupt (1748–1830) German philosopher and founder of the Order of Illuminati

"Greeting to the newly integrated illuminatos dirigentes", in Nachtrag von weitern Originalschriften vol. 2 (1787) p. 45.

“Most students who take introductory economics seem to leave the course without really having learned even the most important basic economic principles.”

Robert H. Frank (1945) economist

"The economic naturalist writing assignment", Journal of Economic Education (2006)

“The health of a democratic society may be measured by the quality of functions performed by private citizens.”

Alexis De Tocqueville book Democracy in America

Source: Democracy in America

“In democratic countries, the most important private organizations are economic. Unlike secret societies, they are able to exercize their terrorism without illegality, since they do not threaten to kill their enemies, but only to starve them.”

Help us to complete the source, original and additional information

Bertrand Russell 562

Related quotes

Related topics