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Democracy is the only system capable of reflecting the humanist premise of equilibrium or balance. The key to its secret is the involvement of the citizen.

John Ralston Saul

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John Ralston Saul
Age: 77
Born: 1947
Born: June 19
Author
Columnist
Investment Banker
Opinion Journalist
Philosopher
Politician
Writer
Ottawa (Ontario)
John Ralston Saul
John Saul
House
Citizen
Keys
Capable
Humanist
Citizens
Premise
Balance
Premises
Democracy
Equilibrium
System
Involvement
Secret
Reflecting

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The faithful witness, like...Socrates, Voltaire, and Swift and Christ himself, is at his best when he is questioning and clarifying and avoiding the specialists obsession with solution. He betrays society when he is silent...He is true to himself and to people when his clarity causes disquiet.
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Dictionary: Opinion presented as truth in alphabetical order.
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Freud, Sigmund: A man so dissatisfied with his own mother and father that he devoted his life to convincing everyone who would listen — or better still, talk — that their parents were just as bad.
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Pessimism: A valuable protection against quackery.
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In a society of ideological believers, nothing is more ridiculous than the individual who doubts and does not conform.
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United States:. A nation given either to unjustified over-enthusiasms or infantile furies.
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Like all religions, Reason presents itself as the solution to the problems it has created
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The most powerful force possessed by the individual citizen is her own government. ... Government is the only organized mechanism that makes possible that level of shared disinterest known as the public good.
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Capitalism was reasonably content under Hitler, happy under Mussolini, very happy under Franco and delirious under General Pinochet.
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Freedom - an occupied space which must be reoccupied every day.
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An individual who stands out, or disagrees or takes risks is a danger to such systems and is effortlessly and, unconsciously sidelined.
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Whenever governments adopt a moral tone - as opposed to an ethical one - you know something is wrong.
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Happy Hour: a depressing comment on the rest of the day and a victory for the most limited Dionysian view of human nature.
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Humanism: an exaltation of freedom, but one limited by our need to exercise it as an integral part of nature and society.
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Money is not real. It is a conscious agreement on measuring value.
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We must discover how to ask simple questions of ourselves.
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There is something silly about grown men and women striving to reduce their vision of themselves and of civilization to bean counting.
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Management cannot solve problems. Nor can it stir creativity of any sort. It can only manage what it is given. If asked to do more, it will deform whatever is put into its hands.
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There is no need to search for global solutions, apart from an absolute necessity to destroy the idea that such things exist.
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If the technocratic class often invokes technology, it is because these inanimate objects can take on a trajectory of their own and so cover for the manager's inability to give leadership.
John Ralston Saul