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• To execute laws is a royal office; to execute orders is not to be a king.
  However, a political executive magistracy, though merely such, is a great trust....
• There is, however, a limit at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue.
  -- Edmund Burke (1729-1797) -- Observations on Late Publication on the Present State of the Nation, -- Vol....
• You had that action and counteraction which, in the natural and in the political world, from the reciprocal struggle of discordant powers draws out the harmony of the universe.
  -- Edmund Burke (1729-1797) -- Reflections on the Revolution in France, Vol. iii, p. 277...
• Hobbes clearly proves that every creature Lives in a state of war by nature.
  -- Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) -- Poetry, a Rhapsody...
• The writers against religion, whilst they oppose every system, are wisely careful never to set up any of their own.
  -- Edmund Burke (1729-1797) -- A Vindication of Natural Society...
• A man gets on a train with his little boy, and gives the conductor only one ticket.
  How old's your kid?" the conductor says, and the father says "He's four years old....
• and we must consider, that since -- unfortunately -- we are forced to live togethe
  he most important thing for us to remember is that the only way in which we can have any law at all is to have as little of it as possible....
• He was not merely a chip of the old block, but the old block itself.
  -- Edmund Burke (1729-1797) -- On Pitt's First Speech, Feb....
• Peace is an extension of war by political means. Plenty of elbow room is pleasanter -- and much safer.
  -- Lazarus Long, from Robert A. Heinlein's "Time Enough For Love...