The test of a real comedian is whether you laugh at him before he opens his mouth.
George Jean NathanRead
Bad officials are the ones elected by good citizens who do not vote.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the responsibility of citizens to vote, hinting that their inaction leads to poor leadership.
This quote by George Jean Nathan underscores the critical role that voter participation plays in the democratic process. It suggests that when good citizens fail to engage in elections, they inadvertently allow unfit leaders to be chosen, thus highlighting a direct connection between civic duty and the quality of governance.
In practice
During a political debate, one might say this quote to encourage audience members to participate in upcoming elections.
The test of a real comedian is whether you laugh at him before he opens his mouth.
Beauty makes idiots sad and wise men merry.
It may be said that artist and censor differ in this wise: that the first is a decent mind in an indecent body and that the second is an indecent mind in a decent body.
It is the mark of a superior person that, left to themselves they are able endlessly to amuse, interest and entertain themselves out of their personal stock of meditations, ideas, criticisms, memories, philosophy, humor and what not.
Politics is the diversion of trivial men who, when they succeed at it, become important in the eyes of more trivial men.
All that is necessary to raise imbecility into what the mob regards as profundity is to lift it off the floor and put it on a platform.
It cannot be too often stressed that Israel had no credible pretext for its 2008-9 attack on Gaza, with full U.S. support and illegally using U.S. weapons.
Authorities that erect major obstacles to migration - or place severe restrictions on migrants' work opportunities - inflict needless economic self-harm, as they impose barriers to having their labor needs met in an orderly, legal fashion. Worse still, they unintentionally encourage illegal migration.
We must have faith, first, that the peasant masses are ready to advance step by step along the road of socialism under the leadership of the Party, and second, that the Party is capable of leading the peasants along this road. These two points are the essence of the matter, the main current.
China's republican politics is like a child who just started schooling. He must have a good teacher and be surrounded by good friends. By the same token, the Chinese people, new to the republican politics, must be educated properly. The revolutionary government should be the people's tutor to impart advanced awareness and experience.
When great powers fade, as they inevitably must, it's normally for one of two reasons. Some powers exhaust themselves through overreach abroad, underinvestment at home, or a mixture of the two. This was the case for the Soviet Union. Other powers lose their privileged position with the emergence of new, stronger powers.
In every society in human history, including the United States, those in power seek to imbue themselves with the attributes of religion and patriotism as a way of getting greater support for their policy and insulating themselves from any criticism.
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