Category: Thought

War, hate, jealousy, racism — what are they but manifestations of fear?

F. Paul Wilson, Reprisal (1991).

It takes all nations to keep the peace, but it only takes one to start a war.

Robert A. Heinlein, “Free Men” (1966).

I think power is a sickness and governing is a folly for madmen.

Valentine the juggler, denying his identity as Lord Valentine, in Robert Silverberg, Lord Valentine’s Castle (1980), Book 1, Chapter 15 (p. 113).

I’ve never noticed that being nonsensical keeps things from happening. Don’t you ever read about politics?

Murray Leinster, Time Tunnel (1964), second chapter, p. 22.

There is no substitute for the comfort supplied by the utterly taken-​for-​granted relationship.

Iris Murdoch, A Severed Head (1961).

I love my government not least for the extent to which it leaves me alone.

John Updike, testifying before the Subcommittee on Select Education of the House of Representatives Committee on Education and Labor, Boston, Massachusetts (January 30, 1978).