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Quote by John Ralston Saul

“I have a theory of statistics: if you can double them or halve them and they still work, they are really good statistics.”

Quote by John Ralston Saul

Author

John Ralston Saul

John Ralston Saul is a Canadian author, political theorist, and public intellectual. He is known for his profound insights into democracy, civil society, and globalization. Saul's work covers a wide range of topics, including political philosophy, history, and cultural commentary. more

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“Simplicity is no longer presented as a virtue. The value of complex and difficult language has been preached with such insistence that the public has begun to believe the lack of clarity must be a sign of artistic talent.”

Believe Has Beens Values Language Difficult Virtue Talent Complexes Simplicity Clarity Artistic Insistence Artistic Talent

Author:John Ralston Saul

“Dictionary: Opinion presented as truth in alphabetical order.”

Order Opinion Teacher Teaching Dictionary Alphabetical Order

Book:The Doubter's Companion: A Dictionary of Aggressive Common Sense

Source: The Doubter's Companion: A Dictionary of Aggressive Common Sense

“They (the novelists) became the voice of the citizen against the ubiquitous raison d'état, which reappeared endlessly to justify everything from unjust laws and the use of child labour to incompetent generalship and inhuman conditions on warships. The themes they popularized have gradually turned into the laws which, for all their flaws, have improved the state of man.”

Men Children States Use Law Voice Conditions Citizens Novelists Theme Labour Justify Flaws Human Condition Unjust Incompetent Inhuman Unjust Laws Warships Child Labour

Author:John Ralston Saul

“If individuals do not occupy their legitimate position, then it will be occupied by a god or a king or a coalition of interest groups. If citizens do not exercise the powers confered by their legitimacy, others will do so. (I - The Great Leap Backwards)”

Ifs Individual Interest Groups Position Kings Citizens Exercise Leap Backwards Coalitions Legitimacy Interest Groups

Book:The Unconscious Civilization

Source: The Unconscious Civilization

“All the lessons of psychiatry, psychology, social work, indeed culture, have taught us over the last hundred years that it is the acceptance of differences, not the search for similarities which enables people to relate to each other in their personal or family lives.”

People Years Lasts Culture Social Differences Psychology Acceptance Taught Lessons Hundred Relate Social Work Family Life Psychiatry Similarity Taught Us

Book:Reflections of a Siamese twin: Canada at the end of the twentieth century

Source: Reflections of a Siamese twin: Canada at the end of the twentieth century

“In general, democracy and individualism have advanced in spite of and often against specific economic interest. Both democracy and individualism have been based upon financial sacrifice, not gain. Even in Athens, a large part of the 7,000 citizens who participated regularly in assemblies were farmers who had to give up several days' work to go into town to talk and listen.”

Giving Has Beens Interest Democracy Sacrifice Economic Citizens Giving Up Gains Towns Financial Spite Farmers Individualism Assembly Athens

Author:John Ralston Saul

“Rights are a protection from society. But only by fulfilling their obligations to society can the individual give meaning to that protection. (V - From Ideology Towards Equilibrium)”

Giving Individual Rights Protection Obligation Ideology Fulfilling Equilibrium

Author:John Ralston Saul

“War is never a solution; it is an aggravation.”

War Peace Solutions Anti War Antiwar Aggravation

Author:Benjamin Disraeli

“Governments produced by the most banal of electoral victories, like those produced by the crudest of coups d'état, will always feel obliged to dress themselves up linguistically in some way.”

Way Feels Government Victory Dresses Obliged Coups

Book:Voltaire's Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West

Source: Voltaire's Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West

“Canada is either an idea or it does not exist. It is either an intellectual undertaking or it is little more than a resource-rich vacuum lying in the buffer zone just north of a great empire.”

Littles Doe Ideas Lying Rich Intellectual Resources Canada Zone Empires Vacuums Undertakings Great Empires

Author:John Ralston Saul