Aphorisms. Magnum in Parvo (2000)
„Politics: the art of convincing decent people to forget the lesser of two evils is also evil.“
— Edward Snowden American whistleblower and former National Security Agency contractor 1983
Twitter June 11, 2016 https://twitter.com/snowden/status/741584993009438720?lang=en
„It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.“
— Mark Twain American author and humorist 1835 - 1910
Variant: It's easier to fool people than to convince them that they have been fooled.
— Ralph Peters American military officer, writer, pundit 1952
Source: 2000s, Beyond Terror: Strategy in a Changing World (2002), p. 133
„Politics is the art of preventing people from taking part in affairs which properly concern them.“
— Paul Valéry French poet, essayist, and philosopher 1871 - 1945
Tel Quel (1943)
— Sol LeWitt American artist 1928 - 2007
Quotes of Sol Lewitt, "Sol LeWitt by Saul Ostrow," 2003
— Cyril Connolly, book The Unquiet Grave
Part III: La Clé des Chants (p. 93)
The Unquiet Grave (1944)
Context: Flaubert spoke true: to succeed a great artist must have both character and fanaticism and few in this country are willing to pay the price. Our writers have either no personality and therefore no style or a false personality and therefore a bad style; they mistake prejudice for energy and accept the sensation of material well-being as a system of thought.
— H. Richard Niebuhr American theologian 1894 - 1962
Source: The Responsible Self: An Essay in Christian Moral Philosophy (1963), pp. 60-61
— Leslie Lamport American computer scientist 1941
As quoted in [Nathan, David E., Computer scientist Leslie Lamport to grads: If you can’t write, it won’t compute, https://www.brandeis.edu/now/2017/may/commencement-lamport.html, Brandeis University, 17 January 2020, May 21, 2017]
— Steve Jobs American entrepreneur and co-founder of Apple Inc. 1955 - 2011
The management philosophy here really is to give people enough rope to hang themselves. We hire people to tell us what to do. That's what we pay them for.
1990s
Source: Steve Jobs, 1996, Fresh Air radio interview by Terry Gross, npr.org http://www.npr.org/2011/10/06/141115121/steve-jobs-computer-science-is-a-liberal-art, audio 26:30/31:05
Source: Steve Jobs 1982, interview in InfoWorld March 4, 1982, p.15 books.google https://books.google.fr/books?id=gT4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA15&dq=rope
„Politics is the art of stopping people from minding their own business.“
— Paul Valéry French poet, essayist, and philosopher 1871 - 1945
Tel Quel (1943)
— Calvin Coolidge American politician, 30th president of the United States (in office from 1923 to 1929) 1872 - 1933
1920s, Second State of the Union Address (1924)
Context: It is axiomatic that our country can not stand still. It would seem to be perfectly plain from recent events that it is determined to go forward. But it wants no pretenses, it wants no vagaries. It is determined to advance in an orderly, sound and common-sense way. It does not propose to abandon the theory of the Declaration that the people have inalienable rights which no majority and no power of government can destroy. It does not propose to abandon the practice of the Constitution that provides for the protection of these rights. It believes that within these limitations, which are imposed not by the fiat of man but by the law of the Creator, self-government is just and wise. It is convinced that it will be impossible for the people to provide their own government unless they continue to own their own property. These are the very foundations of America. On them has been erected a Government of freedom and equality, of justice and mercy, of education and charity. Living under it and supporting it the people have come into great possessions on the material and spiritual sides of life. I want to continue in this direction. I know that the Congress shares with me that desire. I want our institutions to be more and more expressive of these principles. I want the people of all the earth to see in the American flag the symbol of a Government which intends no oppression at home and no aggression abroad, which in the spirit of a common brotherhood provides assistance in time of distress.
„Great people have great egos; maybe that's what makes them great.“
— Paul Arden writer 1940 - 2008
— Joseph Chamberlain British businessman, politician, and statesman 1836 - 1914
Speech to the Birmingham Artisans' Association at Birmingham Town Hall (5 January 1885), quoted in ‘Mr. Chamberlain At Birmingham.’, The Times (6 January 1885), p. 7.
1880s
— Robert G. Ingersoll Union United States Army officer 1833 - 1899
The trial of Charles B. Reynolds for blasphemy (1887)
— Jon Stewart American political satirist, writer, television host, actor, media critic and stand-up comedian 1962
Stand-up performance at RIT (2005)
— Jacques Berlinerblau Associate Professor, Director of the Program for Jewish Civilization, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, George… 1966
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/on-faith/professor-jacques-berlinerblau-tells-atheists-stop-whining/2012/09/14/0fdaf7f4-feab-11e1-98c6-ec0a0a93f8eb_story.html?utm_term=.6145b4fb44a8 "Professor Jacques Berlinerblau tells atheists: Stop whining!"
