Quote #38

The pornography of tough-mindedness, covert action, and preparedness for 'peace through strength' has had a predictably hypnotic effect on the legislative branch, turning it from legal watchdog to lapdog.

More from Christopher Hitchens

  1. Perhaps the values of socialists can only be realized by socialists in a nonsocialist society.
  2. 'Peace through Strength,' surely history's most exploded nostrum.
  3. Rushdie had written a book of nonfiction which offered critical but decided support to the Nicaraguan revolution. He had also been eloquent…
  4. The United States has an isolationist and insular culture, combined with a global and interventionist posture. This highly dangerous and fe…
  5. There is a reason for the affected profession of 'anarchist sympathies' among Tories and grandees, and of 'libertarian principles' by Hobbe…
  6. The polls undoubtedly help to decide what people think, but their most important long-term influence may be on how people think. The interr…
  7. It is not enough to 'have' free speech. People must learn to speak freely. Noam Chomsky remarked in the sixties about the short-life ultra-…
  8. Intellectuals never sound more foolish than when posing as the last civilised man.

All Christopher Hitchens quotes