“The self-discipline of the Social Democracy is not merely the replacement of the authority of bourgeois rulers with the authority of a socialist central committee. The working class will acquire the sense of the new discipline, the freely assumed self-discipline of the Social Democracy, not as a result of the discipline imposed on it by the capitalist state, but by extirpating, to the last root, its old habits of obedience and servility.” SelfStatesLastsSocialResultsClassDemocracyHabitDisciplineAuthorityRootsObedienceAcquireCapitalistRulersSocialistCommitteesSelf DisciplineWorking ClassBourgeoisReplacementsOld HabitsServilitySocial Democracy Author:Rosa Luxemburg
“A fatal defect in majority rule is that by its very nature it abolishes itself. Majority rule must inevitably become minority rule: the majority is too big to handle itself; it organizes itself into committees ... which in their turn resolve themselves into a committee of one.” BigsTurnsDemocracyMajorityHandleMinoritiesResolveOrganizeCommitteesDefectsAbolishMajority Rule Book:The New State: Group Organization the Solution of Popular Government Source: The New State: Group Organization the Solution of Popular Government
“I am convinced that in the arts, committees are useless. What is necessary are people like Karajan, [fellow recording producer John] Culshaw and me; we know not only how to achieve the best artistic results but how to attract the public and carry out the whole operation with carefully chosen collaborators. Democracy is fatal for the arts; it leads only to chaos or the achievement of new and lower common denominators of quality.” PeopleKnowsArtWholeResultsCommonQualityDemocracyAchieveAchievementFellowsChaosConvincedChosenProducersArtisticUselessOperationsCommitteesCollaboratorsCommon DenominatorBest Artist Author:Walter Legge
“Pnin slowly walked under solemn pines. The sky was dying. He did not believe in an autocratic God. He did believe, dimly, in a democracy of ghosts. The souls of the dead, perhaps, formed committees, and these, in continuous session, attended the destinies of the quick.” BelieveSoulDestinyDemocracySkyDyingGhostCommitteesSessionSolemn Book:Pnin Source: Pnin
“Can any of you seriously say the Bill of Rights could get through Congress today? It wouldn't even get out of committee.” GovernmentTodayPoliticalLibertyDemocracyRightsConstitutionBillsCongressLibertarianUsaAmendmentsLibertarianismCommitteesBill Of Rights Author:F. Lee Bailey