If you must break the law, do it to seize power: in all other cases observe it.

Authority poisons everybody who takes authority on himself.

On the whole, we think of our consumers – other judges, lawyers, the public. The law that the Supreme Court establishes is the law that they must live by, so all things considered, it’s better to have it clearer than confusing.

There will be no end to the troubles of states, or of humanity itself, till philosophers become kings in this world, or till those we now call kings and rulers really and truly become philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hands.

Do not meddle in the affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger.

The more people rationalize cheating, the more it becomes a culture of dishonesty. And that can become a vicious, downward cycle. Because suddenly, if everyone else is cheating, you feel a need to cheat, too.

The people are hungry: It is because those in authority eat up too much in taxes.

Always recognize that human individuals are ends, and do not use them as means to your end.

Morality is contraband in war.

Next to enjoying ourselves, the next greatest pleasure consists in preventing others from enjoying themselves, or, more generally, in the acquisition of power.

That government is best which governs least.

A good politician is quite as unthinkable as an honest burglar.

Advertising is a racket, like the movies and the brokerage business. You cannot be honest without admitting that its constructive contribution to humanity is exactly minus zero.

God made and governs the world invisibly, and has commanded us to love and worship him and no other God; to honor our parents and masters, and love our neighbours as ourselves; and to be temperate, just, and peaceable, and to be merciful even to brute beasts.

The intellectual tradition is one of servility to power, and if I didn’t betray it I’d be ashamed of myself.

Machines are worshipped because they are beautiful and valued because they confer power; they are hated because they are hideous and loathed because they impose slavery.

Music has the power to inspire the world.

A master performer like Bill Clinton never lost sight of the fact that as president he had to project confidence and power, but if he was speaking to a group of autoworkers he would adjust his accent and his words to fit the audience, and do the same for a group of executives.

When you have an efficient government, you have a dictatorship.

The effect of power and publicity on all men is the aggravation of self, a sort of tumor that ends by killing the victim’s sympathies.

You don’t need a lot of credentials to be prison guard in a federal prison. And, you know, you give them a set of keys and a weapon, and they’re in power.

Those who have virtue always in their mouths, and neglect it in practice, are like a harp, which emits a sound pleasing to others, while itself is insensible of the music.

There is still much debate about whether torture has been effective in eliciting information – the assumption being, apparently, that if it is effective, then it may be justified.

No law or ordinance is mightier than understanding.

People crushed by laws, have no hope but to evade power. If the laws are their enemies, they will be enemies to the law; and those who have most to hope and nothing to lose will always be dangerous.

We become just by performing just action, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave action.

Where do the evils like corruption arise from? It comes from the never-ending greed. The fight for corruption-free ethical society will have to be fought against this greed and replace it with ‚what can I give‘ spirit.

It is more from carelessness about truth than from intentionally lying that there is so much falsehood in the world.

The intersection of law, politics, and technology is going to force a lot of good thinking.

Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.

I do not believe in immortality of the individual, and I consider ethics to be an exclusively human concern with no superhuman authority behind it.

There never was a truly great man that was not at the same time truly virtuous.

Fear is the mother of morality.

I just usually go with my own taste. If I like something, and it happens to be against the law, well, then I might have a problem.

The more extensive a man’s knowledge of what has been done, the greater will be his power of knowing what to do.

States are not moral agents, people are, and can impose moral standards on powerful institutions.

In a democracy, the majority of the citizens is capable of exercising the most cruel oppressions upon the minority.

I think governments can’t do much.

I don’t know the law, the kind of law of quantity and quality, but I think the opportunity of people being able to express themselves and to have the means of production is a great thing. It’s also changing how we’re telling stories.

Richard Nixon was an evil man – evil in a way that only those who believe in the physical reality of the Devil can understand it. He was utterly without ethics or morals or any bedrock sense of decency.

We can approach God’s throne with boldness because we are confident in the power of what Jesus accomplished for us at the cross.

When the President does it, that means that it’s not illegal.

The superior man thinks always of virtue; the common man thinks of comfort.

Michael Jordan changed so much in basketball, he took his power to make a difference. It’s so much going on in music right now and somebody has to make a difference.

The United States is a nation of laws: badly written and randomly enforced.

The British constitution has always been puzzling and always will be.

I know of nothing more despicable and pathetic than a man who devotes all the hours of the waking day to the making of money for money’s sake.

True contentment is a thing as active as agriculture. It is the power of getting out of any situation all that there is in it. It is arduous and it is rare.

There is an orderliness in the universe, there is an unalterable law governing everything and every being that exists or lives. It is no blind law; for no blind law can govern the conduct of living beings.

Swimming has its educational value – mental, moral, and physical – in giving you a sense of mastery over an element, and of power of saving life, and in the development of wind and limb.

I think the first British actor who really worked well in cinema was Albert Finney. He was a back-street Marlon Brando. He brought a great wittiness and power to the screen. The best actor we’ve had.

It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.

The truth is, if we don’t learn to submit to authority, we won’t ever learn to submit to God.

The strength and power of a country depends absolutely on the quantity of good men and women in it.

No policy that does not rest upon some philosophical public opinion can be permanently maintained.

Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.

He that fails in his endeavors after wealth or power will not long retain either honesty or courage.

It’s okay to eat fish because they don’t have any feelings.

Justice is the set and constant purpose which gives every man his due.

Governing a great nation is like cooking a small fish – too much handling will spoil it.

When there is a lack of honor in government, the morals of the whole people are poisoned.