D.J. Hart > D.J.'s Quotes

“Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.”
― Epictetus

“Everyone sees what you appear to be, few experience what you really are.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince

“No country is permanently strong. Nor is any country permanently weak. (國無常强無常弱)”
― Han Feizi

“I'm not interested in preserving the status quo; I want to overthrow it.”
― Machiavelli Niccolo

“The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane, and intolerable...”
― H.L. Mencken, Prejudices: Third Series

“Get it all on record now - get the films - get the witnesses -because somewhere down the road of history some bastard will get up and say that this never happened.”
― Dwight D. Eisenhower

“You need to avoid certain things in your train of thought: everything random, everything irrelevant. And certainly everything self-important or malicious. You need to get used to winnowing your thoughts, so that if someone says, "What are your thinking about?" you can respond at once (and truthfully) that you are thinking this or thinking that.”
― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

“Past and Present have different customs; new and old adopt different measures. To try to use the ways of a generous and lenient government to rule the people of a critical age is like trying to drive a runaway horse without using reins or whip.”
― Han Fei, Han Feizi: Basic Writings

“It is not titles that honour men, but men that honour titles.”
― Niccolò Machiavelli

“The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naïve and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us, and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair.”
― H.L. Mencken

“A newspaper is a device for making the ignorant more ignorant and the crazy crazier.”
― H.L. Mencken

“Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”
― Theodore Roosevelt

“The only man who never makes mistakes is the man who never does anything.”
― Theodore Roosevelt

“The central conservative truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society. The central liberal truth is that politics can change a culture and save it from itself.”
― Daniel Patrick Moynihan

“Don't fight a battle if you don't gain anything by winning. ”
― Erwin Rommel, Rommel: In His Own Words

“It is hard to fail, but it is worse never to have tried to succeed.”
― Theodore Roosevelt

“Politics is my business and I make it pay”
― John J. Mahon

“I am often accused of interfering in the private lives of citizens. Yes, if I did not, had I not done that, we wouldn't be here today. And I say without the slightest remorse, that we wouldn't be here, we would not have made economic progress, if we had not intervened on very personal matters - who your neighbour is, how you live, the noise you make, how you spit, or what language you use. We decide what is right. Never mind what the people think.”
― Lee Kuan Yew

“To educate a person in the mind but not in morals is to educate a menace to society.”
― Theodore Roosevelt

“Knowing what's right doesn't mean much unless you do what's right.”
― Theodore Roosevelt

“Believe you can and you're halfway there.”
― Theodore Roosevelt

“People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care”
― Theodore Roosevelt

“I ignore polling as a method of government. I think that shows a certain weakness of mind - an inability to chart a course whichever way the wind blows, whichever way the media encourages the people to go, you follow. If you can't force or are unwilling to force your people to follow you, with or without threats, you are not a leader.”
― Lee Kuan Yew

“I started off believing all men were equal. I now know that's the most unlikely thing ever to have been, because millions of years have passed over evolution, people have scattered across the face of this earth, been isolated from each other, developed independently, had different intermixtures between races, peoples, climates, soils... I didn't start off with that knowledge. But by observation, reading, watching, arguing, asking, and then bullying my way to the top, that is the conclusion I've come to.”
― Lee Kuan Yew

“Political reform need not go hand in hand with economic liberalisation. I do not believe that if you are libertarian, full of diverse opinions, full of competing ideas in the market place, full of sound and fury, therefore you will succeed.”
― Lee Kuan Yew

“After trying out a number of ways to reduce inequalities and failing, I was gradually forced to conclude that the decisive factors were the people, their natural abilities, education and training. Knowledge and the possession of technology were vital for the creation of wealth.”
― Lee Kuan Yew, The Singapore Story: Memoirs of Lee Kuan Yew

“I believe that life is a process of continuous change and a constant struggle to make that change one for the better.”
― Kuan Yew Lee, The Wit and Wisdom of Lee Kuan Yew

“A nation is great not by its size alone. It is the will, the cohesion, the stamina, the discipline of its people and the quality of their leaders which ensure it an honourable place in history.”
― Kuan Yew Lee, The Wit and Wisdom of Lee Kuan Yew

“Start with putting three of your friends to jail. You definitely know what for, and people will believe you”
― Lee Kuan Yew, From Third World to First: The Singapore Story: 1965-2000

“A society to be successful must maintain a balance between nurturing excellence and encouraging the average to improve.”
― Kuan Yew Lee, The Wit and Wisdom of Lee Kuan Yew