Other forces were at work besides conformism. But without the conformists, the great atrocities would have been impossible.

Anticipatory obedience is a political tragedy.

History permits us to be responsible: not for everything, but for something... History gives us the company of those who have done and suffered more than we have.

Life is political, not because the world cares about how you feel, but because the world reacts to what you do. The minor choices we make are a kind of vote, making it more or less likely that free and fair elections will be held in the future. In the politics of the everyday, our words and gestures, or their absence, count very much.

Bad men need nothing more to compass their ends, than that good men should look on and do nothing.

Republics, like other forms of government, exist in history and can rise and fall.