A Quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Democracy is morose, and runs to anarchy, but in the state, and in the schools, it is indispensable to resist the consolidation ofall men into a few men.
Related Quotes
Democracy is morose, and runs to anarchy.
It is cold anarchy to say that all men are to meddle in all men'smarriages. It is cold anarchy to say that any doctor may seize andsegregate anyone he likes. But it is not anarchy to say that a fewgreat hygienists might enclose or limit the life of all citizens,as nurses do with a family of children. It is not anarchy, it istyranny; but tyranny is a workable thing.
Every industry, as it comes to a certain level of maturity, there is consolidation. In that consolidation, some fall, but the men will always be there. It is the boys that get sloughed, I would say.
A very few, as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the
great sense, and men, serve the state with their conscience also,
and so necessarily resist it for the most part, and they are
commonly treated as enemies by it.
We want the full works of citizenship with no reservations. We will accept nothing less . . . This condition of freedom, equality, and democracy is not the gift of gods. It is the task of men, yes, men, brave men, honest men, determined men.
A whole big, giant world full of men. Men with blue eyes. Brown eyes. Green eyes. And indescribable shades in between. Tall men. Short men. Skinny men. Built men. And all combinations thereof. Nice men (so I've heard, but never really seen). Mean men. Decent men, indecent. And who knows which is the best kind to have, to hold, to love? I'd say, with so many men in the world, it would pay to sample a few. Scratch that. More than a few. Lots and lots. And then a few more. And maybe, after years of research, you might find one worth not throwing back. But hey, the fun is in the fishing.
No state, no government exists. What does in fact exist is a man, or a few men, in power over many men.
Others - as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and office-holders - serve the state chiefly with their heads; and, as they rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to serve the devil, without intending it, as God. A very few - as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men - serve the state with their consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part.
My father is one of the few men I've known who has genuine humility, and it lends him a natural dignity. He has absolutely no ego drive, and so he is one of the most beloved men in this part of the state.
Don't think of yourself as indispensable or infallible. The cemeteries of the world are full of indispensable men.
The men who create power
make an indispensable contribution
to the nation's greatness.
But the men who question power make
a contribution just as indispensable
for they determine whether
we use power
or power uses us.
There is a contagion in example which few men have sufficient force of mind to resist.
Men who create power make an indispensable contribution to a nation's greatness. But, men who question power make a contribution just as indispensable.
Don't think of yourself as indispensable or infallible. As Charles De Gaulle said, the cemeteries of the world are full of indispensable men.
The real stumbling-block of totalitarian regimes is not the spiritual need of men for freedom of thought; it is men's inability to stand the physical and nervous strain of a permanent state of excitement, except during a few years of their youth.
From the day of the Declaration, the people of the North American union, and of its constituent states, were associated bodies of civilized men and Christians, in a state of nature, but not of anarchy.
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