“In war, the moral element and public opinion are half the battle.” WarHalfMoralOpinionBattleElementsPublic Opinion Author:Napoleon Bonaparte
“Those men that are so remissly governed that they dare take up arms to defend or introduce an opinion, are still in war, and their condition not peace, but only a cessation of arms for fear of one another, and they live as it were in the precincts of battle continually.” MenStillsWarOpinionConditionsArmsBattleDareIntroducing Book:Leviathan Source: Leviathan
“A politician weakly and amiably in the right is no match for a politician tenaciously and pugnaciously in the wrong. You cannot, by tying an opinion, to a man's tongue, make him the representative of that opinion; and at the close of any battle for principles, his name will be found neither among the dead nor among the wounded, but among the missing.” MenFoundPoliticsNamesOpinionPrinciplesMissingPoliticianBattleTongueRepresentativesWounded Author:Edwin Percy Whipple
“The religious cant that will send American troops into battle is perhaps the most sickening aspect of this surreal war-to-be. Bush has an arm-lock on God. And God has very particular political opinions. God appointed America to save the world in any way that suits America. God appointed Israel to be the nexus of America's Middle Eastern policy, and anyone who wants to mess with that idea is a) anti-Semitic, b) anti-American, c) with the enemy, and d) a terrorist.” WorldWayWantIdeasWarAmericaPoliticalReligiousOpinionEnemyMiddlePolicyParticularArmsBattleAspectIsraelTerroristSuitsMessTroopsLocksEasternCantSurrealSave The WorldAnti SemiticAnti-americanPolitical OpinionsAmerican TroopsNexus Author:John le Carre
“A scientist's life, the author says, is indeed conflictual, formed by battles, defeats, and victories: but the adversary is always and only the unknown, the problem to be solved, the mystery to be clarified. It is never a matter of civil war; even though of different opinions, or of different political leanings, scientists dispute each other, they compete, but they do not battle: they are bound together by a strong alliance, by the common faith "in the validity of Maxwell's or Boltzmann's equations," and by the common acceptance of Darwinism and the molecular structure of DNA.” DifferentWarMatterProblemTogetherPoliticalStrongCommonOpinionMysteryAcceptanceVictoryBattleScientistStructureBoundsDefeatCivil WarDnaEquationsDisputesAdversariesAlliancesValidityDarwinismDifferent OpinionsMaxwell Author:Primo Levi
“Unless you're willing to fight and refight the same battles until you go blue in the face, drive the people you work with nuts going over every detail to make certain you've got it right, and then take hit after unfair hit accusing you of bias, there's no use even trying. You have to love it, and I do. You just hope it strikes a spark somewhere in the critical mass of public opinion and helps some people to resist further the seductions of political and corporate advertising.” PeopleTryingHelpingUseFacesPoliticalCertainFightingOpinionWillingBattleMassBlueDetailsCriticalStrikesAdvertisingCorporateSparksNutsBiasUnfairSeductionPublic OpinionAccusingCritical Mass Author:Bill Moyers
“We were very effective, and I was very effective, in shaping public opinion around my campaigns. But there were big stretches, while governing, where even though we were doing the right thing, we weren't able to mobilize public opinion firmly enough behind us to weaken the resolve of the Republicans to stop opposing us or to cooperate with us. And there were times during my presidency where I lost the PR battle.” EnoughBigsAbleLostBehindsOpinionRepublicanBattleCampaignsRight ThingResolvePresidencyPublic OpinionGoverningOpposingDoing The Right Thing Author:Barack Obama
“Without general elections, without freedom of the press, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, without the free battle of opinions, life in every public institution withers away, becomes a caricature of itself, and bureaucracy rises as the only deciding factor.” FreedomOpinionBattleSpeechElectionInstitutionsPressesFactorsFreedom Of SpeechBureaucracyAssemblyCaricaturesFreedom Of The PressGeneral ElectionsFreedom Of Assembly Author:Rosa Luxemburg