Quote#Politics & Power
Parliamentary government is simply a mild and disguised form of…
Quote byJames Fitzjames Stephen · 1829–1894
Commonly attributed — not confirmed in an authoritative edition. Cited on Wikiquote to: Liberty, Equality, Fraternity (1873-1874), Ch. 2 : The Liberty of Thought and Discussion.
English (original)
Parliamentary government is simply a mild and disguised form of compulsion. We agree to try strength by counting heads instead of breaking heads, but the principle is exactly the same... The minority gives way not because it is convinced that it is wrong, but because it is convinced that it is a minority.
— James Fitzjames Stephen
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I am not the advocate of Slavery, Caste, and Hatred, nor do I deny that a sense may be given to the words, Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity, in which they may be regarded as good.
Originality consists in thinking for yourself, not in thinking differently from other people.
The criminal law stands to the passion of revenge in much the same relation as marriage to the sexual appetite.
Men have an all but incurable propensity to try to prejudge all the great questions which interest them by stamping their prejudices upon their language.