Georg Henrik von Wright Quotes

Certainly I shall not be one of those who, having gained power, do not wish to use it.

Even when you’re in charge, you’re not sure who’s in charge.

Taking power is fine. But what do you do when you are in power?

Every decision that affects our lives will be made by the person who has the power to make that decision, not the 'right' person or the 'smartest' person or the 'best' person. Make peace with this fact.

If one meets a powerful person - Adolf Hitler, Joe Stalin or Bill Gates - ask them five questions: 'What power have you got? Where did you get it from? In whose interests do you exercise it? To whom are you accountable? And how can we get rid of you?' If you cannot get rid of the people who govern you, you do not live in a democratic system.

Who is in charge? Is it taxpayers or is it the special interest groups?

If you ever live in a country run by a committee, be on the committee.

Any unveiling is also veiling. No matter how transparent our governments want to be, governments will be selectively transparent.

If members of the security apparatus could, with impunity, keep from those elected by the people that which they're entitled to know - or worse, feed false information - those who could control the classified data could be the real decision makers.

The message I'm trying to send is that technology is political, and that many decisions that look like decisions about technology actually are not at all about technology - they are about politics, and they need to be scrutinized as closely as we would scrutinize decisions about politics.

Power has to be insecure to be responsive.

In politics, as in business, leadership is crucial.

If we live in a world where information drives what we do, the information we get becomes the most important thing. The person who chooses that information has power.

Governance is a way of organizing, amplifying, and constraining power.

Government, in the last analysis, is organized opinion. Where there is little or no public opinion, there is likely to be bad government.

Obama has already rejected the bright sunlight of public knowledge, which is democracy's great disinfectant and cure.

At Athens, wise men propose, and fools dispose.

One of the sad truths about leadership is that, the higher up the ladder you travel, the less you know.

I wanted the influence. In the end I wasn't very good at being a president. I looked out of the window and thought that the man cutting the lawn actually seemed to have more control over what he was doing.

You must see the persons who are in charge - persons you can punish or vote for.

The most basic question is not what is best, but who shall decide what is best.

If principles don't determine what you are going to pass or do, then power will.

Democracy is the fig leaf of elitism.

Politics is like roller skating. You go partly where you want to go, and partly where the damned things take you.

Polls make leadership impossible.