The mass of men serve the state thus, not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies. They are the standing army, and the m...ilitia, jailers, constables, posse comitatus, etc. In most cases there is no free exercise whatever of the judgment or of the moral sense; but they put themselves on a level with wood and earth and stones; and wooden men can perhaps be manufactured that will serve the purpose as well. Such command no more respect than men of straw or a lump of dirt. They have the same sort of worth only as horses and dogs. Yet such as these even are commonly esteemed good citizens. Others--as most legislators, politicians, lawyers, ministers, and office-holders--serve the state chiefly with their heads; and, as they rarely make any moral distinctions, they are as likely to serve the devil, without intending it, as God. A very few--as heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers in the great sense, and men--serve the state with their consciences also, and so necessarily resist it for the most part; and are commonly treated as enemies by it.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Can this cockpit hold The vasty fields of France? Or may we cram... Within this wooden O the very casques That did affright the air at Agincourt?LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins. Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went throu...gh fire and through water; but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy place.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »
You may cut off the heads of every rich man now living--of every statesman--every literary, and every scientific authority, withou...t in the least changing the social situation. Artists, of course, disappeared long ago as social forces. So did the church. Corporations are not elevators, but levellers, as I see them.LESSATTRIBUTION DETAIL »