The masses […] neither should nor can direct their personal existence, and still less to rule
society in general.
—José Ortega y Gasset, 1930
The ignorant classes are the dangerous classes. Ignorance is the womb of monsters.
—Henry Ward Beecher, 1867
In the past, civilizations have been created and directed by a small intellectual aristocracy,
never by the crowd.
—Gustave Le Bon, 1895
There are no wise few. Every aristocracy that has ever existed has behaved, in all essential
points, exactly like a small mob.
—G. K. Chesterton, 1905
The intellectual elite is the most heavily indoctrinated sector, for good reasons. It’s their
role as a secular priesthood to really believe the nonsense that they put forth.
—Noam Chomsky, 1987
Plutocracy is abhorrent to a republic; it is more despotic than monarchy, more heartless than
aristocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy.
—William Jennings Bryan, 1906
The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern.
—Lord Acton, 1881
The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination.
—Voltaire
10
The best system of government would be an enlightened monarchy, but it has the unsolved
problem of uninterrupted supply of enlightened monarchs.
—Anonymous
In the long run every Government is the exact symbol of its People, with their wisdom and
unwisdom; we have to say, Like People like Government.
—Thomas Carlyle, 1843
Who serves the people, has a bad master.
—European proverb
***
Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.
—Publilius Syrus, first century BC
10
As quoted, without a date, by Laurence J. Peter in 1977.
166
On Government and Politics
society in general.
—José Ortega y Gasset, 1930
The ignorant classes are the dangerous classes. Ignorance is the womb of monsters.
—Henry Ward Beecher, 1867
In the past, civilizations have been created and directed by a small intellectual aristocracy,
never by the crowd.
—Gustave Le Bon, 1895
There are no wise few. Every aristocracy that has ever existed has behaved, in all essential
points, exactly like a small mob.
—G. K. Chesterton, 1905
The intellectual elite is the most heavily indoctrinated sector, for good reasons. It’s their
role as a secular priesthood to really believe the nonsense that they put forth.
—Noam Chomsky, 1987
Plutocracy is abhorrent to a republic; it is more despotic than monarchy, more heartless than
aristocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy.
—William Jennings Bryan, 1906
The danger is not that a particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern.
—Lord Acton, 1881
The best government is a benevolent tyranny tempered by an occasional assassination.
—Voltaire
10
The best system of government would be an enlightened monarchy, but it has the unsolved
problem of uninterrupted supply of enlightened monarchs.
—Anonymous
In the long run every Government is the exact symbol of its People, with their wisdom and
unwisdom; we have to say, Like People like Government.
—Thomas Carlyle, 1843
Who serves the people, has a bad master.
—European proverb
***
Anyone can hold the helm when the sea is calm.
—Publilius Syrus, first century BC
10
As quoted, without a date, by Laurence J. Peter in 1977.
166
On Government and Politics