Aphorisms — English

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Political power

Authority

A clear and competent way of being to lead a person, group, class, or population to respect order, rules, the law, and objectives. Authority is much more respected when it is exercised calmly, without any physical, verbal, or psychological violence.  

2011

Governance and philosophy

In ancient times across Greece, China, India, Egypt, and Mesopotamia, philosophy and politics were allies. Philosophical inquiry defined the polis and shaped political discourse. No king saw fit to rule without wise philosophers to counsel him; indeed, the ideal king was often himself a philosopher, in addition to being a spiritual guide and artist or poet...

2011

Genocide and cultural ethnocide

Genocide is preceded by cultural ethnocide, or the gradual and deliberate erosion and manipulation of cultural values and practices by political authorities. The dissolution of this cultural foundation (...) makes people incapable of protecting themselves and their communities from the descent into the abyss of mass atrocities; it allows them to be manipulated to commit execrable acts counter to their own time-tested values and traditions.

March 13 1962

Peaceful revolutions and violent ones

Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.

31st March 1968 (Speech), 9th April 1968 (US Congressional Record)

Leadership through consensus

Ultimately a genuine leader is not a searcher for consensus, but a molder of consensus."

The financing of research

Research needs funding in two main domains : cancer and antimissile guns. For antimissile guns, there are taxes. For cancer, we pass around a hat.

Pierre Desproges, French comedian, author, and actor (1939-1988)