“This leads to a question - if a great many people are for a certain project, is it necessarily right? If the vast majority is for it, is it even more certainly right? This, to be sure, is one of the tricky points of democracy. The minority often turns out to be right, and though one believes in the efficacy of the democratic process, one has also to recognize that the demand of the many for a particular project at a particular time may mean only disaster.” PeopleIfsBelieveMayMeanCertainTurnsProcessDemocracyParticularDemandProjectsMajorityDemocraticDisasterGreat MenMinoritiesTrickyEfficacyDemocratic Process Book:The Roosevelt I Knew Source: The Roosevelt I Knew
“I can't quite define my aversion to asking questions of strangers. From snatches of family battles which I have heard drifting up from railway stations and street corners, I gather that there are a great many men who share my dislike for it, as well as an equal number of women who ... believe it to be the solution to most of this world's problems.” MenWorldBelieveWellsI CanProblemNumbersHeardShareStreetsThis WorldBattleEqualSolutionsAskingCornersStrangerGreat MenStationsDislikeDriftingAsking QuestionsAversionRailwayStreet CornersRailway Station Book:The Benchley Roundup Source: The Benchley Roundup
“I believe the calculation of the quantity of probability might be improved to a very useful and pleasant speculation, and applied to a great many events which are accidental, besides those of games; only these cases would be infinitely more confused, as depending on chances which the most part of men are ignorant of.” MenBelieveMightWould BeGamesI BelieveChanceCasesEventsIgnorantPleasantConfusedGreat MenQuantityProbabilitySpeculationCalculations Book:Miscellaneous Works of the Late Dr. Arbuthnot Source: Miscellaneous Works of the Late Dr. Arbuthnot