WIST Quotations

Gellhorn, Martha -- Letter (1971) to Daniel Ellsberg

Dave — Fri, 29 May 2026 07:47:01 +0000

The Founding Fathers cannot have intended a President and his small group of appointed advisors to perform like a monarch surrounded by his court. As if the people’s representatives and the people themselves were a general nuisance, and the job is to keep the whole tiresome bunch quiet: manipulate them.

Martha Gellhorn (1908–1998) American novelist, journalist war correspontent
Letter (1971) to Daniel Ellsberg
(Source)

An open letter Gellhorn wrote to Daniel Ellsberg. In 1971, Ellsberg, a military analyst, leaked the "Pentagon Papers" to the media, a top-secret Defense Department study of US goverment decision-making in the Vietnam War. He was charged under the Espionage Act of 1917, but due to government misconduct and illegal evidence-gathering, all charges were dismissed in 1973.

More importantly, the US government, under Richard Nixon, tried to impose a preemptive injunction to stop the Papers' publication by US media. The Supreme Court ruled in New York Times Co. v. United States that such prior restraint of publication was unconstitutional.

Russell, Bertrand -- Lecture (1949-01-16), “The Conflict of Technique and Human Nature,” Reith Lecture, “Authority and the Individual” No. 4, BBC Radio

Dave — Wed, 29 Apr 2026 17:17:12 +0000

Those who believe that the voice of the people is the voice of God may infer that any unusual opinion or peculiar taste is almost a form of impiety, and is to be viewed as a culpable rebellion against the legitimate authority of the herd. This will only be avoided if liberty is as much valued as democracy, and it is realized that a society in which each is the slave of all is only a little better than one in which each is the slave of a despot. There is equality where all are slaves, as well as where all are free. This shows that equality, by itself, is not enough to make a good society.

Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) English mathematician and philosopher
Lecture (1949-01-16), “The Conflict of Technique and Human Nature,” Reith Lecture, “Authority and the Individual” No. 4, BBC Radio
(Source)

This passage was not included in the original broadcast (transcript), but only in the collected and edited version in Authority and the Individual (1949).

More on "the voice of the people is the voice of God" here.

Adams, John -- Diary (1772, Spring), “Notes for a Oration at Braintree”

Dave — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 18:46:42 +0000

We see, by the Sketches I have given you, that all the great Kingdoms of Europe have once been free. But that they have lost their Liberties, by the Ignorance, the Weakness, the Inconstancy, and Disunion of the People. Let Us guard against these dangers, let us be firm and stable, as wise as Serpents and as harmless as Doves, but as daring and intrepid as Heroes.

John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
Diary (1772, Spring), “Notes for a Oration at Braintree”
(Source)

The serpents/doves reference is from the New Testament, Matthew 10:16.

Adams, John -- Diary (1772, Spring), “Notes for a Oration at Braintree”

Dave — Mon, 30 Jun 2025 18:54:20 +0000

But this is an unalterable Truth, that the People can never be enslaved but by their own Tameness, Pusillanimity, Sloth or Corruption. They may be deceived, and their Symplicity, Ignorance, and Docility render them frequently liable to deception. And of this, the aspiring, designing, ambitious few are very sensible. He is the Statesman qualifyed by Nature to scatter Ruin and Destruction in his Path who by deceiving a Nation can render Despotism desirable in their Eyes and make himself popular in Undoing.

John Adams (1735–1826) American lawyer, Founding Father, statesman, US President (1797–1801)
Diary (1772, Spring), “Notes for a Oration at Braintree”
(Source)

Lincoln, Abraham -- Speech (1859-09-16), Columbus, Ohio

Dave — Wed, 24 Apr 2019 02:10:32 +0000

The people — the people — are the rightful masters of both Congresses, and courts — not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert it.

Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) American lawyer, politician, US President (1861-65)
Speech (1859-09-16), Columbus, Ohio
(Source)

On preventing the spread of slavery to new states and territories, and preventing the resumption of the African slave trade.

The speech, sponsored by the Ohio Republican Central Committee, was also given the next day in Dayton and Cincinnati, Ohio. It may have been also given at Cooper Union, New York City (1860-02-27).

Variant:

The people of these United States are the rightful masters of both Congresses and courts, not to overthrow the Constitution, but to overthrow the men who pervert the Constitution.

Discussion and further information around this quotation:

Roosevelt, Theodore -- Speech (1910-08-31), “The New Nationalism,” John Brown Memorial Park dedication, Osawatomie, Kansas

Dave — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 14:21:59 +0000

The object of government is the welfare of the people. The material progress and prosperity of a nation are desirable chiefly so far as they lead to the moral and material welfare of all good citizens.

Theodore Roosevelt (1858–1919) American politician, statesman, conservationist, writer, US President (1901–1909)
Speech (1910-08-31), “The New Nationalism,” John Brown Memorial Park dedication, Osawatomie, Kansas
(Source)

Stevenson, Adlai -- Speech (1956-09-13), “Democratic and Republican Administrations,” Pennsylvania Farm Show, Harrisburg

Dave — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 10:34:01 +0000

If I were to attempt to put my political philosophy tonight into a single phrase, it would be this: Trust the people. Trust their good sense, their decency, their fortitude, their faith. Trust them with the facts. Trust them with the great decisions. And fix as our guiding star the passion to create a society where people can fulfill their own best selves — where no American is held down by race or color, by worldly condition or social status, from gaining what his character earns him as an American citizen, as a human being and as a child of God.

Adlai Stevenson (1900–1965) American diplomat, statesman
Speech (1956-09-13), “Democratic and Republican Administrations,” Pennsylvania Farm Show, Harrisburg
(Source)