#2,759

Neither a declaration of human rights, nor the proclamation of a constitution, nor an appeal to natural law, protects against the arbitrary power of the state.
The only barrier to despotism is customary law.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 443

#2,756

Even the most austere rulers end up attending the circus in order to please the crowd.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 442

#2,730

The vice which afflicts the right is cynicism, and that which afflicts the left is deceit.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 439

#2,698

Asking the state to do what only society should do is the error of the left.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 434

#2,653

Unless circumstances constrain him, there is no radically leftist Jew.
The people that discovered divine absolutism does not make deals with the absolutism of man.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 428

#2,583

The political errors that could most obviously be avoided are those which are most frequently committed.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 418

#2,570

From behind the “will of all” the “general will” pokes its head out.
A “will” that is not volition, in reality, but a program. The program of a party.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 413

#2,565

Periods of political stability are periods of religious stability.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 412

#2,557

A non-economic problem does not appear worthy, in our time, of the attention of a serious citizen.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 411

#2,556

Nothing more ominous than the 19th century’s enthusiasm for the “unity,” the “solidarity,” the “unanimity” of the human race.
Sentimental sketches of contemporary totalitarianism.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 410

#2,547

The world is not in such bad shape, considering the men who rule it.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 409

#2,497

The separation of Church and State can suit the Church, but it is disastrous for the State because it delivers it over to pure Machiavellianism.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 402

#2,479

Humanity is not ungovernable: it merely happens that rarely does a man govern who deserves to govern.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 399

#2,478

Political scientists learnedly analyze the squawking, howling, [and] growling of the animals on board, while the maelstrom of the masses silently pushes the ship from one shore to another.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 399

#2,477

History exhibits two types of anarchy: that which emanates from a plurality of forces and that which derives from a plurality of weaknesses.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 399

#2,466

When it comes to political matters, there are few who even in private do not argue at the level of a public meeting.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 397

#2,430

Only the distortions of a political idea caused by the circumstances in which it acts are recorded in history.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 392

#2,403

Conservatism should not be a party but the normal attitude of every decent man.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 388

#2,384

As long a party keeps the same name, its programs can change.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 385

#2,371

Where we imprudently tolerate agglomerations, order and tyranny in the end unfortunately coincide.

Escolios a un Texto Implícito: Selección, p. 383