J.G.A. Pocock > Quotes

“The executive possesses means of distracting Parliament from its proper function; it seduces members by the offer of places and pensions, by retaining them to follow ministers and ministers' rivals, by persuading them to support measures —whereby the activities of administration grow beyond Parliament's control. These means of subversion are known are known collectively as corruption, and if ever Parliament or those who elect them—for corruption may occur at this point too—should be wholly corrupt, then there will be an end of independence and liberty.”
― J.G.A. Pocock

“only after we have understood what means he had of saying anything can we understand what he meant to say, what he succeeded in saying, what he was taken to have said, or what effects his utterance had in modifying or transforming the existing paradigm structures. Authors--individuals thinking and articulating--remain the actors in any story we may have to tell, but the units of the proceses we trace are the paradigms of political speech.”
― J.G.A. Pocock, Politics, Language, and Time: Essays on Political Thought and History