It is well-known that the friend of a conqueror is but the last victim.

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There are no nations! There is only humanity. And if we don't come to understand that right soon, there will be no nations, because there will be no humanity.

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Self-education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is. The only function of a school is to make self-education easier; failing that, it does nothing.

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Any book worth banning is a book worth reading.

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Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.

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There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.

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So the universe is not quite as you thought it was. You'd better rearrange your beliefs, then. Because you certainly can't rearrange the universe.

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The true delight is in the finding out rather than in the knowing.

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What is really amazing, and frustrating, is mankind's habit of refusing to see the obvious and inevitable until it is there, and then muttering about unforeseen catastrophes.

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When stupidity is considered patriotism, it is unsafe to be intelligent.

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