2000s, The Real Abraham Lincoln: A Debate (2002), Q&A
Context: You can not have free government if you can not bind the people who participate in the government to accept the results of the election. It is the exercise of our inalienable right to life that enables us, and justifies us, in forming legitimate governments. When those governments are formed, we cannot reject them because we don’t like the results.
Address to the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association conference in Nadi, 8 September 2005
2000s, The Real Abraham Lincoln: A Debate (2002), The Right of Secession Is Not the Right of Revolution
As quoted in an interview by Rami Eljundi in World Internet News (26 April 2006)
2014, Young Southeast Asian Leaders Initiative Town Hall (April 2014)
Context: And when I think back to my journey, my past, I think the most important thing for -- and maybe the most important thing for all the young people here -- is to realize that you really can have an impact on the world; you can achieve your dreams. But in order to do so, you have to focus not so much on a title or how much money you’re going to make, you have to focus more on what kind of influence and impact are you going to have on other people’s lives -- what good can you do in the world. Now, that may involve starting a business, but if you want to start a business you should be really excited about the product or the service that you’re making. It shouldn’t just be how much money I can make -- because the business people who I meet who do amazing things, like Bill Gates, who started Microsoft -- they’re usually people who are really interested in what they do and they really think that it can make a difference in people’s lives. If you want to go into government, you shouldn’t just want to be a particular government official. You should want to go into government because you think it can help educate some children, or it can help provide jobs for people who need work. So I think the most important thing for me was when I started thinking more about other people and how I could have an impact in my larger society and community, and wasn’t just thinking about myself. That’s when I think your dreams can really take off -- because if you’re only thinking about you, then your world is small; if you‘re thinking about others, then your world gets bigger.
“A Government protected by foreigners will never be accepted by a free people.”
Political Aphorisms, Moral and Philosophical Thoughts (1848)
“The fallacy is to believe that under a dictatorial government you can be free inside.”
"As I Please," Tribune (28 April 1944) https://books.google.com/books?id=fCRLPIbLP8IC&lpg=PA132&dq=%22fallacy%20is%20to%20believe%20that%20under%20a%20dictatorial%22&pg=PA132#v=onepage&q=%22fallacy%20is%20to%20believe%20that%20under%20a%20dictatorial%22&f=false
"As I Please" (1943–1947)
Context: The fallacy is to believe that under a dictatorial government you can be free inside. Quite a number of people console themselves with this thought, now that totalitarianism in one form or another is visibly on the up-grade in every part of the world. Out in the street the loudspeakers bellow, the flags flutter from the rooftops, the police with their tommy-guns prowl to and fro, the face of the Leader, four feet wide, glares from every hoarding; but up in the attics the secret enemies of the regime can record their thoughts in perfect freedom—that is the idea, more or less.
2000s, The Real Abraham Lincoln: A Debate (2002), Q&A
