It Is Still In The Lap Of

Political Agitation, By The Passions It Arouses Or The Convictions It Engenders, May In Fact Stimulate Men To The Violation Of The Law. Detestation Of Existing Policies Is Easily Transformed Into Forcible Resistance Of The Authority Which Puts Them In Execution, And It Would Be Folly To Disregard The Causal Relation Between The Two. Yet To Assimilate Agitation, Legitimate As Such, With Direct Incitement To Violent Resistance, Is To Disregard The Tolerance Of All Methods Of Political Agitation Which In Normal Times Is A Safeguard Of Free Government.

Any One May So Arrange His Affairs That His Taxes Shall Be As Low As Possible; He Is Not Bound To Choose That Pattern Which Will Best Pay The Treasury; There Is Not Even A Patriotic Duty To Increase Ones Taxes.

You Cannot Raise The Standard Against Oppression, Or Leap Into The Breach To Relieve Injustice, And Still Keep An Open Mind To Every Disconcerting Fact, Or An Open Ear To The Cold Voice Of Doubt. I Am Satisfied That A Scholar Who Tries To Combine These Parts Sells His Birthright For A Mess Of Pottage; That, When The Final Count Is Made, It Will Be Found That The Impairment Of His Powers Far Outweighs Any Possible Contribution To The Causes He Has Espoused.

Each One Of Us Must In The End Choose For Himself How Far He Would Like To Leave Our Collective Fate To The Wayward Vagaries Of Popular Assemblies For Myself It Would Be Most Irksome To Be Ruled By A Bevy Of Platonic Guardians, Even If I Knew How To Choose Them, Which I Assuredly Do Not I Should Miss The Stimulus Of Living In A Society Where I Have, At Least Theoretically, Some Part In The Direction Of Public Affairs.

There Is No Surer Way To Misread Any Document Than To Read It Literally.