When the theological content of the idea [of human rights] was abandoned, nothing was put in its place. James Griffin, On Human Rights

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[Liberal democracy] celebrates certain values: reasonableness, conversation, compassion, tolerance, intellectual humility and optimism. David Brooks

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Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains. The first line of Rousseau’s The Social Contract

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In the beginning all the world was America. John Locke

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Many forms of government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time. Churchill

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Profit from folly rather than participating in it. *** Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful. *** I prefer buying things. Otherwise, it’s a little like saving sex for your old age. Warren Buffett

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You make most of your money in a bear market, you just don’t realize it at the time. Shelby Cullom Davis

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One morning I received a call from my Zurich lawyer, Dr. Andreas Froriep, who informed me that someone was trying to find out who was behind Arran Isle Improvement Association AG. I burst out laughing.

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The history of tenant abuse by aristocratic landlords goes back in the UK for a thousand years. But the twentieth century turned out to be The Revenge of the Downtrodden.

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If you want to be called Lord Joe, Earl of Arran, you have to own Lochranza Castle and about one thousand acres surrounding it.

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