February 21, 2025

Liberty means responsibility, that is why most men dread it.

No written law has ever been more binding than unwritten custom supported by popular opinion. In other words, people will always say and do what their neighbours say and do, no matter what the law allows or forbids or has nothing to say on a subject.

To the extent that a democratic society gives its citizens the chance to speak in their own voices and listens to what they have to say, it gives itself the chance not only of discovering its multiple glories and triumphs but also of surviving its multiple follies and crimes.