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The consent of the governed is more than a safeguard against ignorant tyrants: it is an insurance against benevolent despots as well.

Walter Lippmann

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Walter Lippmann
Age: 85 †
Born: 1889
Born: September 23
Died: 1974
Died: December 14
Journalist
Politician
Writer
New York City
New York
Democracy
Despots
Wells
Safeguard
Well
Benevolent
Governed
Insurance
Consent
Tyrants
Ignorant

More quotes by Walter Lippmann

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There is no arguing with the pretenders to a divine knowledge and to a divine mission. They are possessed with the sin of pride, they have yielded to the perennial temptation.
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Life is an irreversible process and for that reason its future can never be a repetition of the past.
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While the right to talk may be the beginning of freedom, the necessity of listening is what makes that right important.
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Culture is the name for what people are interested in, their thoughts, their models, the books they read and the speeches they hear, their table-talk, gossip, controversies, historical sense and scientific training, the values they appreciate, the quality of life they admire. All communities have a culture. It is the climate of their civilization.
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The radical novelty of modern science lies precisely in the rejection of the belief... that the forces which move the stars and atoms are contingent upon the preferences of the human heart.
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Men fall into a routine when they are tired and slack: it has all the appearance of activity with few of its burdens.
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And the principle which distinguishes democracy from all other forms of government is that in a democracy the opposition not only is tolerated as constitutional but must be maintained because it is in fact indispensable.
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It is at the cross-roads that skepticism is born, not in a hermitage.
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He has honor if he holds himself to an ideal of conduct though it is inconvenient, unprofitable, or dangerous to do so.
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Private property was the original source of freedom. It still is its main bulwark.
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The devil is merely a fallen angel, and when God lost Satan he lost one of his best lieutenants.
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The justification of majority rule in politics is not to be found in its ethical superiority.
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The people who really matter in social affairs are neither those who wish to stop short like a mule, or leap from crag to crag like a mountain goat.
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Newspapers necessarilyand inevitably reflect, and therefore, in greater or lesser measure, intensify, the defective organization of public opinion.
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Ignore what a man desires and you ignore the very source of his power.
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The Bill of Rights does not come from the people and is not subject to change by majorities. It comes from the nature of things. It declares the inalienable rights of man not only against all government but also against the people collectively.
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No amount of charters, direct primaries, or short ballots will make a democracy out of an illiterate people.
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A large plural society cannot be governed without recognizing that, transcending its plural interests, there is a rational order with a superior common law.
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A man cannot be a good doctor and keep telephoning his broker between patients nor a good lawyer with his eye on the ticker.
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There can be no higher law in journalism than to tell the truth and to shame the devil.
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