“The greatest men, you can quote for everything.” — John Dalberg-Acton

Be not content with the best book; seek sidelights from the others; have no favourites.

Liberty is the prevention of control by others.

By a series of violent shocks, the nations in succession have struggled to shake off the Past, to reverse the action of Time and the verdict of success, and to rescue the world from the reign of the dead.

The fate of every democracy, of every government based on the sovereignty of the people, depends on the choices it makes between these opposite principles, absolute power on the one hand, and on the other the restraints of legality and the authority of tradition.