The best servants of the people, like the best valets, must whisper un…

Walter Lippmann
112 citations
The best servants of the people, like the best valets, must whisper unpleasant truths in the master's ear. It is the court fool, not the foolish courtier, whom the king can least afford to lose. ✨ Walter Lippmann (1914). A Preface to Politics
Humanity Politics Truth
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Success makes men rigid and they tend to exalt stability over all the other virtues; tired of the effort of willing they become fanatics about conservatism. ✨ Walter Lippmann (1914). A Preface to Pol … ▶
The time has come to stop beating our heads against stone walls under the illusion that we have been appointed policeman to the human race.
The study of error is not only in the highest degree prophylactic, but it serves as a stimulating introduction to the study of truth. ✨ Walter Lippmann, Clinton Rossiter, James Lare (1982). The Essen … ▶
In government offices which are sensitive to the vehemence and passion of mass sentiment public men have no sure tenure. They are in effect perpetual office seekers, always on trial for their politic … ▶
When men are brought face to face with their opponents, forced to listen and learn and mend their ideas, they cease to be children and savages and begin to live like civilized men. Then only is freed … ▶

The best servants of the people, like the best valets, must whisper unpleasant truths in the master's ear. It is the court fool, not the foolish courtier, whom the king can least afford to lose. ✨ Walter Lippmann (1914). A Preface to Politics

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