Category: Thought

Man, when perfected, is the best of animals, but when separated from law and justice, he is the worst of all.

Aristotle, Politics, Book One.

The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions.

Master Kong, The Analects, fourth chapter.

Some circumstantial evidence is very strong, as when you find a trout in the milk.

Henry David Thoreau, journal, Nov. 11, 1850, presumably playing off of rumors of dairymen diluting their product with water during a milk shortage.

Suspicion is a virtue as long as its object is the public good, and as long as it stays within proper bounds. . . . Guard with jealous attention the public liberty. Suspect every one who approaches that jewel.

Patrick Henry, Virginia Ratifying Convention (June 5, 1788), speech regarding the Federal Constitution.

Today we are practically living a trade war, a currency war because the exchange rate today is one of the important factors to determine the competitiveness or not of products. Generalized currency depreciation in my view is an explicit strategy used by countries and that threatens us.

Guido Mantega, “The Role of Industry in the Growth of Brazil” organized by the Getulio Vargas Foundation, September 27, 2010. This statement from Brazil’s Finance Minister is eerily similar to statements made by folks around the world — about other countries’ monetary policies. Donald Trump bases his complaints against China on precisely these grounds. Pictured: the Brazilian Real against the U.S. Dollar from 2007 to 2017, courtesy xe.com.

When a country is well governed, poverty and a mean condition are things to be ashamed of. When a country is ill governed, riches and honor are things to be ashamed of.

Master Kong, The Analects, eighth chapter.

I renounce the idea sometimes advanced that the state governments ever were or continue to be, sovereign or unlimited. If the people are sovereign, their governments cannot also be sovereign.

John Taylor of Caroline, Construction Construed, and Constitutions Vindicated (1820).

When we see men of worth, we should think of equaling them; when we see men of a contrary character, we should turn inwards and examine ourselves.

Master Kong, The Analects, fourth chapter, James Legge translation (1893).

We must reason from a comparison between general or universal facts, and not from a contemplation of temporary exceptions, to come at truth; and when we discover that an absolute power over property, though occasionally exercised for the attainment of praise-worthy ends, is yet constantly attended by general evils, infinitely outweighing such particular benefits; we forbear to draw our conclusion from the partial cases, or decide erroneously.

John Taylor of Caroline, Construction Construed, and Constitutions Vindicated (1820).

Officialism is habitually slow. When non-governmental agencies are dilatory, the public has its remedy: it ceases to employ them and soon finds quicker ones. Under this discipline all private bodies are taught promptness. But for delays in State-departments there is no such easy cure. . . . [O]fficialism is stupid. Under the natural course of things each citizen tends towards his fittest function. Those who are competent to the kind of work they undertake, succeed, and, in the average of cases, are advanced in proportion to their efficiency; while the incompetent, society soon finds out, ceases to employ, forces to try something easier, and eventually turns to use. But it is quite otherwise in State-organizations. Here, as every one knows, birth, age, backstairs intrigue, and sycophancy, determine the selections rather than merit.

Herbert Spencer, “Specialized Administration,” Westminster Review (July 1853).