In the (French) President, however, intelligence, experience and strength of purpose, if not constitutional power, were combined. Poincare was a lawyer, economist and member of the Academy, a former finance minister who had served as Permier and Foreign Minister in 1912 and had been elected President of France in January 1913. Character begets power, especially [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Quotes'
“The Guns of August 1914”, Barbara Tuchman
April 1st, 2012 · No Comments · History, Quotes, Uncategorized
In Whitehall that evening, Sir Edward Grey, standing with a friend at the window as the street lamps below were being lit, made the remark that has since epitomized the hour: “The lamps are going out all over Europe; we shall not see them lit again in our lifetime.
Journalists’ Tradesmen-like Habits – “Recollections of a Bleeding Heart” – Don Watson
March 20th, 2012 · No Comments · Democracy, Journalism, Newspapers, Quotes, The Media
The fact is that the public have an insatiable curiosity to know everything, except what is worth knowing. Journalism, conscious of this, and having tradesmen-like habits, supplies their demands. OSCAR WILDE, THE SOUL OF MAN UNDER SOCIALISM
A Victory for the True Believers – “Recollections of a Bleeding Heart” – Don Watson
March 19th, 2012 · No Comments · Australian Labor Party, Ideology, Politics, Quotes
‘This is a victory for the true believers; the people who in difficult times have kept the faith, and for the Australian people through hard times, it makes their act of faith that much greater.’ He left no doubt that he was claiming it, in fact he might have been still campaigning. ‘It will be [...]
Tags:ALP·Australian Labor Party·Labor·Politics·Quotes·Speeches
No Plan Survives Contact with the Enemy – “Recollections of a Bleeding Heart” – Don Watson
March 19th, 2012 · No Comments · Quotes, War
No plan survives contact with the enemy, as the military strategists say;
Strategy and Results – “Recollections of a Bleeding Heart” – Don Watson
March 17th, 2012 · No Comments · Quotes
It was hubris. It was Churchill’s axiom perfectly demonstrated: ‘However beautiful the strategy one should occasionally look at the results.’
Politics as the Systematic Organisation of Hatreds – “Recollections of a Bleeding Heart” – Don Watson
March 16th, 2012 · No Comments · Democracy, Politics, Power, Quotes
Politics, as a practice, whatever its pretensions, had always been the systematic organisation of hatreds. HENRY ADAMS
The Most Foolish Leader of the LPA since McMahon – “Recollections of a Bleeding Heart” – Don Watson
March 16th, 2012 · No Comments · Campaigning, Conservative Politics, Political Communication, Politics, Quotes
‘I am not saying the Leader of the Opposition (Downer) is a racist,’ he said over the din in the House. ‘I am saying he is the most foolish Leader of the Liberal Party since Billy McMahon.’
Tags:Campaigning·conservatives·Language·Liberals·Political Communication·Politics·Quotes
Kenneth Arrow on Certainty – “Recollections of a Bleeding Heart” – Don Watson
March 14th, 2012 · No Comments · Ideology, Means and Ends, Philosophy, Quotes
Kenneth Arrow, the father of the theory of general equilibrium, one of the laws of free-market economics, once said, ‘Vast ills follow a belief in certainty.’
The Dangers of Maxims – “Recollections of a Bleeding Heart” – Don Watson
March 14th, 2012 · No Comments · Extremism, Ideology, Politics, Progressive Politics, Quotes
George Eliot reckoned all sensible people ‘early discern that the mysterious complexity of our life is not to be embraced by maxims’.
Tags:extremism·idealism·Ideology·Politics·progressive politics
