Hannah Arendt

 [ 1974, during an interview with the French writer Roger Errera. https://kottke.org/tag/Hannah%20Arendt ]

The moment we no longer have a free press, anything can happen....  If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer.... And a people that no longer can believe anything cannot make up its mind. It is deprived not only of its capacity to act but also of its capacity to think and to judge. And with such a people you can then do what you please.

Cecil Rhodes

[The quote is everywhere, but no citation found]

Remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first prize in the lottery of life.

[This is what I've always felt about being born in the U.S. I especially remember the first time I visited Mexico as a boy, with my father remarking on the differences we were seeing and the accidents of birth.]