Quote of the day 12th November 2013

“A great deal of democratic enthusiasm descends from the ideas of people like Rousseau, who believed in democracy because they thought mankind so wise and good that everyone deserved a share in the government.

The danger of defending democracy on those grounds is that they’re not true. . .

I find that they’re not true without looking further than myself. I don’t deserve a share in governing a hen-roost, much less a nation.

The real reason for democracy is just the reverse. Mankind is so fallen that no man can be trusted with unchecked power over his fellows.

Aristotle said that some people were only fit to be slaves. I do not contradict him. But I reject slavery because I see no men fit to be masters.”

( C.S. Lewis, Present Concerns )

Comments

Jim said…
not sure if you saw this story but i do like Fiona's style.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/10441802/Former-Wren-to-ex-minister-You-Sir-are-a-disgrace.html
5:02 pm
Jim said…
I dont think much of Nick Harvey either, but to play Devils Advocate, I think that the report is saying the claim he made for attenting Nov 11 was discovered and brought to public attention in May 12.
8:04 am
Chris Whiteside said…
I see what you mean.

The last line of the Telegraph article about the former Wren confronting Sir Nick Harvey could be read two ways, but on the assumption that you may well be right I have removed the comment in which I interpreted it differently.
8:52 am
Chris Whiteside said…
On topic, Clive Staples Lewis, known as "Jack" to his friend but best known to the wider world as C.S. Lewis, creator of "Narnia" and author of "The Screwtape Letters" died 50 years ago this month.

I will be putting in a series of quotes by him over the next couple of weeks.
8:56 am
Jim said…
Must admit i did read it 3 or 4 times as at first i had interpreted it the same way you did.

Though I do think it fair to say that when i claim an expense at work, then I need to list each individual item, list the amount I would like to claim, catagorise it into a broad heading ie. food, hotel, parking, fuel etc.. then I need to provide a till receipt for each individual item claimed (though one receipt may well cover 2 or 3 things, I.e fuel and sandwich an I still need to list each thing.
then i need to sign and date the bottom of the expense form.

Not exactly a process i can do "by accident" really.
9:03 am
Jim said…
Should have said I would also need to state a reason for my claim.

this would be something along the lines of "attend afternoon meeting for x project at Manchester" or "attend X training course at Lancaster"

On thouse grounds Nick Harvy must have "accidently" wrote "petrol", "fuel", "£7.50", "attend remembrance day parade".

He must also have "accidently" took a fuel recipt and kept it then "accidently" stapled it to his expense form. Then and then "accidently" signed and dated said form.
9:22 am
Chris Whiteside said…
Indeed. It's the same for BT as at Sellafield.

Up to the "Duck house" expenses scandal in the last parliament, the House of Commons expenses system was notoriously lax, but the present regime, which was in place before 2011, is considerably stricter.
9:49 am
Jim said…
I thought the story was very on topic with the quote. Its all about the fact that no man is fit to govern another.

The highlighted case shows an example of why. you see if a person is trusted with the level of power and trust currently awarded to ministers, then you would quite rightly like to think he could not make the seris of mistakes listed above when doing something as simple as an expense claim.
Makes you wonder what else he wrote and signed into law by accident doesn't it.
4:18 pm
Chris Whiteside said…
Totally fair comment and I apologise if I gave the impression that I meant to infer the story you pointed to wasn't relevant to the quote from C.S. Lewis. It is very relevant indeed.

I was simply explaining why I will be using some more C.S. Lewis quotes this month.

6:43 pm
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Nick Herbert on his visit to flood hit areas of Cumbria

Please note that the post below was published more than ten year ago on 21st November 2009 Nick Herbert MP, shadow cabinet member for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, was in Cumbria this morning to see the areas affected by the flooding. He writes on Conservative Home about his visit. Here is an extract. I’ve been in Cumbria today to see the areas affected by the floods. I arrived early in Keswick where I met officials from the Environment Agency. Although the river levels had fallen considerably and homes were no longer flooded, the damage to homes had been done. And the water which had got into houses wasn’t just from the river – it was foul water which had risen from the drains. I talked to fire crews who were pumping flood water back into the river, and discovered that they were from Tyne & Wear and Lancashire. They had been called in at an hours’ notice and had been working on the scene ever since, staying at a local hotel. You cannot fail to be impressed by the
Read more

Quotes of the day 19th August 2020

Image
"Wise men profit more from fools than fools from wise men; for the wise men shun the mistakes of fools, but fools do not imitate the successes of the wise."  ( Cato the Elder , who lived 234 BC - 149 BC, quoted in "Lives" by Plutarch.) There is a similar saying by Germany's Iron Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck: Benjamin Franklin is supposed to have put the same saying in a more humorous form: "Wise men profit by the mistakes of others, while fools will not learn even from their own blunders." See also this thread on the "Quote Investigator" website . Let us all be wise and learn from the events of the last few days.
Read more

Quote of the day 24th July 2020

I was moved to put the passage below forward as a quote today when I saw a horrible post on twitter from someone writing that it was "excellent" that someone who took a different view from her about Brexit had died. I won't write which way round it was so that all the Remain supporters can assume the post was from a Brexit fanatic welcoming the death of a remainer and all the Leavers can assume it was a Remainiac welcoming one less Brexiteer. There's been plenty of nasty stuff on both sides but if you catch anyone of your own viewpoint  posting something like that who might listen to you, please do call them out on it - and point out that they're giving everyone on your side of the argument a bad name. Anyway, here's the quote from John Donne.
Read more