Nick

“...the crucial fact of the world we live in is that all actions or inactions entail costs which have to be taken into account in order to reach a rational decision. "Rational" is used here in its most basic sense - the ability to make a ratio, as in "rational numbers" in mathematics - so that rational decisions are decisions that weigh one thing against another, a trade-off as distinguished from a crusade to achieve some “good thing” without weighing costs.”
― SOWELL THOMAS

“Many of us worry today about a growing gap between the great mass of mere mortals and an internationalised and (metaphorically) incestuous elite, flitting between the luxury hotels and Michelin-starred restaurants of London, New York and Singapore or gathering for closed-door festivals of self-congratulation in the picture-book-perfect Alpine resort of Davos.”
― Ian Morris, Geography Is Destiny: Britain and the World: A 10,000-Year History

“Пропаганда называет диссидентов «контрреволюционерами», поскольку революция на Кубе типа продолжается («нет у революции конца», помним-помним). Стало быть, люди, желающие перемен, это здесь контрреволюционеры.
А те, которые хотят оставаться у власти, в роскоши реквизированных особняков через шестьдесят лет после ее захвата — это революционеры!
Тут главное — не перепутать.”
― Виктор Шендерович

“The phrase “Why die for Danzig?” was considered a hallmark of sophistication among the intelligentsia at the time, but was instead a sign of their dangerous talent for verbal virtuosity, which can pose questions in ways that make the desired answer almost inevitable, whatever the substantive merits or demerits of the issue. Contrary to one-day-at-a-time rationalism, the real question was not whether it was worth dying over the Rhineland, over Czechoslovakia, over Austrian annexation, or over the city of Danzig. The question was whether one recognized in the unfolding pattern of Hitler's actions a lethal threat.”
― Thomas Sowell, Intellectuals and Society