Sunday, June 11, 2006

It’s not just me... – Favorite Quotes (2)

My aversion against “alpha-ship”, my antipathy against the self-made slaves...

the dominant leaders and the willingly obedient underlings, praising the man on the top...

the perfect copy of each alpha chimp or silverback

for his “wisdom” and “ability” to protect HIS wealth...

in fact depending on the work of all

against the other wanna-be-alphas and against the (paramilitary) killer troops of the other (chimp) groups...

ever read Konrad Lorenz? Remember the banana-heap-experiment?

David Brin (1950- )
It is said that power corrupts, but actually it’s more true that power attracts the corruptible. The sane are usually attracted by other things than power.

Frank Herbert (1920-1986), Chapterhouse Dune, Missionaria Protectiva
All governments suffer a recurring problem: Power attracts pathological personalities. It is not that power corrupts but that it is magnetic to the corruptible. Such people have a tendency to become drunk on violence, a condition to which they are quickly addicted.

Harry S. Truman
Once a government is committed to the principle of silencing the voice of opposition, it has only one way to go, and that is down the path of increasingly repressive measures, until it becomes a source of terror to all its citizens and creates a country where everyone lives in fear.

Douglas Adams
Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.

Russian Saying
Show me your friends and I tell you who you are.

Elizabeth Marbury, american writer
The richer your friends, the more they will cost you.

Roman Saying
As long as you're prosperous, you'll have many friends.

Morris K. Udall (American Congressman, 1922-1998)
If you can find something everyone agrees on, it's wrong.

Mark Twain
Whenever you find that you are on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.

Walter H. Judd
People often say that, in a democracy, decisions are made by a majority of the people. Of course, that is not true. Decisions are made by a majority of those who make themselves heard and who vote - a very different thing

Tom Stoppard
It’s not the voting that’s democracy - it’s the counting.

Joseph Stalin
The people who cast the votes don't decide an election; the people who count the votes do.

Ursula K. Le Guin ("The Left Hand of Darkness")
If civilization has an opposite, it is war. Of those two things, you have either one, or the other. Not both.

1 Comments:

Blogger Again said...

thanks, robert

Brin and Le Guin also are SF/Fantasy-authors ;-)

1:40 AM, June 19, 2006  

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