Quotes from William F. Buckley Jr.

I would rather be governed by the first 2000 people in the Manhattan phone book than the entire faculty of Harvard.

Liberals claim to want to give a hearing to other views, but then are shocked and offended to discover that there are other views.

All that is good is not embodied in the law; and all that is evil is not proscribed by the law. A well-disciplined society needs few laws; but it needs strong mores.

Marijuana is not much more difficult to obtain than beer. The reason for this is that a liquor store selling beer to a minor stands to lose its liquor license. Marijuana salesmen don't have expensive overheads, and so are not easily punished.

We are so concerned to flatter the majority that we lose sight of how very often it is necessary, in order to preserve freedom for the minority, let alone for the individual, to face that majority down.

I would rather be governed by the first 2000 people in the Manhattan phone book than the entire faculty of Harvard.

Life can't be all bad when for ten dollars you can buy all the Beethoven sonatas and listen to them for ten years.

Back in the thirties we were told we must collectivize the nation because the people were so poor. Now we are told we must collectivize the nation because the people are so rich.

The academic community has in it the biggest concentration of alarmists, cranks and extremists this side of the giggle house.

Truth is a demure lady, much too ladylike to knock you on your head and drag you to her cave. She is there, but people must want her, and seek her out.

The best defense against usurpatory government is an assertive citizenry.

There is an inverse relationship between reliance on the state and self-reliance.

Industry is the enemy of melancholy

A Conservative is a fellow who is standing athwart history yelling 'Stop!

I had much more fun criticizing than praising.

The more complicated and powerful the job, the more rudimentary the preparation for it.

D]emocracy can itself be as tyrannical as a dictatorship, since it is the extent, not the source, of government power that impinges on freedom." -William F Buckley

I profoundly believe it takes a lot of practice to become a moral slob.

I would sooner be governed by the first two thousand names in the Boston telephone directory than by the two thousand members of the faculty of Harvard.

For people who like that sort of thing, that's the sort of thing they like.

I catch fire and find the reserves of courage and assertiveness to speak up. When that happens I get quite carried away. My blood gets hot my brow wet I become unbearably and unconscionably sarcastic and bellicose I am girded for a total showdown.

The loneliness of flight is not entirely overwhelmed by cabin movies, the drinks, the Gemütlichkeit of shoulder-to-shoulder life.

For people who like that sort of thing, that's the sort of thing they like.

Pentagon ought to win the Nobel Peace Prize every year, because the U.S. military is the world's foremost guarantor of peace