Loyalty means nothing unless it has at its heart the absolute principle of self-sacrifice.
Woodrow WilsonRead
Since I entered politics, I have chiefly had men's views confided to me privately. Some of the biggest men in the United States, in the field of commerce and manufacture, are afraid of somebody, are afraid of something. They know that there is a power somewhere so organized, so subtle, so watchful, so interlocked, so complete, so pervasive, that they had better not speak above their breath when they speak in condemnation of it.
Interpretation
Powerful individuals often fear speaking out against a hidden, pervasive influence in society.
In this quote, Woodrow Wilson highlights the pervasive fear among influential figures in politics and business regarding a mysterious power that exerts control over them. He suggests that this power is so organized and subtle that it discourages open criticism, reflecting the challenges of confronting unseen forces that dictate behavior and thoughts at high societal levels.
In practice
In a political debate to discuss government transparency.
Loyalty means nothing unless it has at its heart the absolute principle of self-sacrifice.
Since trade ignores national boundaries and the manufacturer insists on having the world as a market, the flag of his nation must follow him, and the doors of the nations which are closed against him must be battered down. Concessions obtained by financiers must be safeguarded by ministers of state, even if the sovereignty of unwilling nations be outraged in the process. Colonies must be obtained or planted, in order that no useful corner of the world may be overlooked or left unused.
The history of liberty is the history of limitations on the power of government, not the increase of it. When we resist, therefore, the concentration of power, we are resisting the processes of death, because concentration of power is what always precedes the destruction of human liberties.
We grow great by dreams. All big men are dreamers.
The way to stop financial joyriding is to arrest the chauffeur, not the automobile.
Once lead this people into war, and they'll forget there ever was such a thing as tolerance. To fight, you must be brutal and ruthless, and the spirit of ruthless brutality will enter into the very fiber of our national life, infecting Congress, the courts, the policeman on the beat, the man in the street.
I know no method to secure the repeal of bad or obnoxious laws so effective as their stringent execution.
Law and Order are the medicine of the body politic and when the body politic gets sick, medicine must be administered.
He mocks the people who proposes that the government shall protect the rich and that they in turn will care for the laboring poor.
Elections aren't just about who votes but who doesn't vote.
People are tired of being kept from the dignity that allows them to make their own choices.
We should certainly know by now that it is one thing to overthrow a dictator or repel an invader and quite another thing really to achieve a revolution. Time and time and time again, the people discover that they have merely betrayed themselves into the hands of yet another Pharaoh, who, since he was necessary to put the broken country together, will not let them go.
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