Activity Quote by John Ralston Saul

“Moral crusade: Public activity undertaken by middle-aged men who are cheating on their wives or diddling little boys. Moral crusades are particularly popular among those seeking power for their own personal pleasure, politicians who can't think of anything useful to do with their mandates, and…” quote by John Ralston Saul — Download Open image

“Moral crusade: Public activity undertaken by middle-aged men who are cheating on their wives or diddling little boys. Moral crusades are particularly popular among those seeking power for their own personal pleasure, politicians who can't think of anything useful to do with their mandates, and religious professionals suffering from a personal inability to communicate with their god.”

John Ralston Saul

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Of course, corporations and governments have a right to something for their money. They pay the wages. But they don't have the ethical right to literally purchase the copyright of a citizen's potential contribution to society. In a democracy they should not have the legal right to silence the quasi-totality of the functioning élite in order to satisfy a managerial…

John Ralston Saul

Some people don't like the 'comeback' because that suggests they went somewhere, which they didn't. That isn't what I mean. In my mind, people…

John Ralston Saul

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In the humanist ideal, the mainstream is where interesting debate, the generating of new ideas and creativity take place. In rational society this mainstream…

John Ralston Saul

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There's two ways of dealing with fears of mortality. One of them is to hide, so every day you wear the same suit and go to the same job... and the other is to reinvent yourself. I think I reinvent myself all the time. The idea that I would have to be one thing for the rest of my life…

John Ralston Saul

A foreigner is an individual who is considered either comic or sinister. When the victim of a disaster - preferably natural but sometimes political…

John Ralston Saul

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Rights are a protection from society. But only by fulfilling their obligations to society can the individual give meaning to that protection. (V - From Ideology Towards Equilibrium)

John Ralston Saul

All the lessons of psychiatry, psychology, social work, indeed culture, have taught us over the last hundred years that it is the acceptance of…

John Ralston Saul

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The neo-conservatives, who are closely linked to the neo-corporatists, are rather different. They claim to be conservatives, when everything they stand for is a rejection of conservatism. They claim to present an alternate social model, when they are little more than the courtiers of the corporatist movement. Their agitation is filled with the bitterness and cynicism typical of courtiers who…

John Ralston Saul

Armaments; extremely useful for fighting wars, a deadweight in any civil economy.

John Ralston Saul

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In the European tradition, rivers are seen as divisions between peoples. But in the Aboriginal tradition, rivers are seen as the glue, the highway,…

John Ralston Saul

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“Basic technical training is, of course, useful. But to treat it as anything more than that is to lock students into technology that will be obsolete by the time they graduate. The time wasted will also deprive them of the basic training in knowledge and thinking that might help them adjust to the constant changes outside. (IV - From Managers…

John Ralston Saul

Bankers - pillars of society who are going to hell if there is a God and He has been accurately quoted.

John Ralston Saul

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Where I grew up, learning was a collective activity. But when I got to school and tried to share learning with other students that…

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It must be assumed and established as a principle, that the right of private property must be regarded as sacred. Wherefore, the law ought to favor this right and, so far as it can, see that the largest possible number among the masses of the population prefer to own property… But if the productive activity of the multitude can be…

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Each man is capable of doing one thing well. If he attempts several, he will fail to achieve distinction in any.

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And also I think the rise of other, you could say, destinations for international jihadis mean that Pakistan isn't necessarily the place where people…

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To evoke in oneself a feeling one has once experienced, and having evoked it in oneself, then by means of movements, lines, colors, sounds,…

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Fighting's fun, man. It's a great activity, it's a great sport.

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There were books everywhere in my house. Books were very present. I just loved books. I never understood reading as anything but a pleasurable…

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For war to man, like childbirth to women, is simplifying in its emotions and activities. All the real problems of life can be put aside while the one thing is done and little thought is needed to do it. ... His hatreds can be expressed without censure, he can let his emotions run free, he can behave as dramatically, as…

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