“Democracy is a difficult art of government, demanding of its citizens high ratios of courage and literacy, and at the moment we lack both the necessary habits of mind and a sphere of common reference.” MindArtMomentsGovernmentDifficultCommonDemocracyHabitCitizensSpheresLiteracyRatiosHabits Of Mind Book:Waiting for the Barbarians Source: Waiting for the Barbarians
“The gentlemen who wrote the Constitution were as suspicious of efficient government as they were wary of democracy, a "turbulence and a folly" that was associated with the unruly ignorance of an urban mob.” GovernmentDemocracyIgnoranceConstitutionGentlemanFollyEfficientUrbanSuspiciousTurbulenceUnruly Book:Waiting for the Barbarians Source: Waiting for the Barbarians
“Let the corporations do as they please -- pillage the environment, falsify their advertising, rig the securities markets -- and it is none of the federal government's business to interfere with the will of heaven.” GovernmentHeavenEnvironmentSecurityPleaseAdvertisingCorporationsInterfereFederal GovernmentRigs Book:Waiting for the Barbarians Source: Waiting for the Barbarians
“His administration apparently means to define itself as a television program instead of a government...I don't know if it can please both its sponsors and its intended audience.” IfsKnowsMeanGovernmentAudienceTelevisionPleaseProgramAdministrationSponsors Author:Lewis H. Lapham
“Nobody suffers the pain of birth or the anguish of loving a child in order for presidents to make wars, for governments to feed on the substance of their people, for insurance companies to cheat the young and rob the old.” PeopleChildrenWarGovernmentKidsPainYoungSufferingOrderPresidentCompanyBirthSubstanceCheatAnguishInsurance Companies Author:Lewis H. Lapham