Home / Quotes / Quote by John Ralston Saul

Quote by John Ralston Saul

“Panic: A highly underrated capacity thanks to which individuals are able to indicate clearly that something is wrong. Given their head, most humans panic with great dignity and imagination. This can be called democratic expression or practical common sense.”

Quote by John Ralston Saul

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

Work

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

This book serves as a guide for individuals seeking to question and analyze widely accepted ideas and concepts. It provides a wealth of entries that delve into various topics, fostering a spirit of inquiry and challenging readers to think critically about the world around them. more

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

You May Also Like

“It is the considered opinion of most members of our rational élites that, in any given difference of opinion with reality, reality is wrong.”

Reality Given Differences Opinion Members Rational Differences Of Opinion

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

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

“The recession is over." This phrase has been used twice a year since 1973 by government leaders throughout the West. Its meaning is unclear. See: Depression.”

Years Has Beens Government Used Leader West Phrases Recessions Unclear

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

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

“The transnational corporations and the money markets have declared the era of human-designed regulations over. Now the market must reign. Because few people in the business community are paid to think about phrases such as "Western civilization," they don't seem to realize that they are proposing the arbitrary denial of 2,500 years of human experience.”

“Content is an obstacle to the exercise of power.”

Exercise Obstacles

Author:John Ralston Saul

“After all, in both languages we were dealing in large measure not with English and French, but with Scots and Irish, Bretons and Normans ... There could be no more eloquent illustration of the colonial mind-set than a bunch of Celts and Vikings in a distant northern territory insulting each other as les Anglais and the French as if they were the descendants of the people who had subjected and ruined them.”

People Ifs Mind Language Bunch Territory Ruined Insulting Eloquent Illustration Descendants Vikings Mind Set Scots Celts

Author:John Ralston Saul

“Wisdom is at all times the least burdensome traveling pack.”

Wisdom All Time Packs

Author:William Camden

“We cannot agree that an act of plunder which threatens the livelihood of many nations should be allowed to succeed.”

Should Nations Succeed Agree Livelihood Plunder

Author:Anthony Eden

“There is now doubt in our minds that Nasser, whether he likes it or not, is now effectively in Russian hands, just as Mussolini was in Hitler's. It would be as ineffective to show weakness to Nasser now in order to placate him as it was to show weakness to Mussolini.”

Mind Shows Hands Would Be Order Doubt Weakness Likes

Book:The Memoirs of Full Circle

Source: The Memoirs of Full Circle

“If we had allowed things to drift, everything would have gone from bad to worse. Nasser would have become a kind of Moslem Mussolini, and our friends in Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and even Iran would gradually have been brought down. His efforts would have spread westwards, and Libya and North Africa would have been brought under his control.”

Ifs Kind Has Beens Effort Gone Iraq Spread Iran Jordan Arabia Saudi Arabia Saudis Libya North Africa

Author:Anthony Eden

“Although [in 1937] we might still hope to prevent the divisions of Europe into Fascist and anti-Fascist camps, our real affinities and interests, strategic as well as political, lay with France, a fact which some of my colleagues were most reluctant to realise.”

Wells Stills Real Facts Might Political Interest Europe Lays France Division Realising Camps Colleagues Strategic Fascists Reluctant Affinity

Book:Facing the Dictators: The Eden Memoirs

Source: Facing the Dictators: The Eden Memoirs