Elite Quotes

“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”
― Isaac Asimov

“The best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.”
― Winston S. Churchill

“As democracy is perfected, the office of president represents, more and more closely, the inner soul of the people. On some great and glorious day the plain folks of the land will reach their heart's desire at last and the White House will be adorned by a downright moron.”
― H.L. Mencken, On Politics: A Carnival of Buncombe

“All the animals, the plants, the minerals, even other kinds of men, are being broken and reassembled every day, to preserve an elite few, who are the loudest to theorize on freedom, but the least free of all.”
― Thomas Pynchon, Gravity’s Rainbow

“The urge to save humanity is almost always only a false-face for the urge to rule it. Power is what all messiahs really seek: not the chance to serve. This is true even of the pious brethren who carry the gospel to foreign parts.”
― H.L. Mencken, Minority Report

“It would be well to realize that the talk of ‘humane methods of warfare’, of the ‘rules of civilized warfare’, and all such homage to the finer sentiments of the race are hypocritical and unreal, and only intended for the consumption of stay-at-homes. There are no humane methods of warfare, there is no such thing as civilized warfare; all warfare is inhuman, all warfare is barbaric; the first blast of the bugles of war ever sounds for the time being the funeral knell of human progress… What lover of humanity can view with anything but horror the prospect of this ruthless destruction of human life. Yet this is war: war for which all the jingoes are howling, war to which all the hopes of the world are being sacrificed, war to which a mad ruling class would plunge a mad world.”
― James Connolly

“Too much elite education renders a person unpractical. And tell you what? The highly educated people are further away from reality than the less educated ones. I would rather rely on the opinion of a less educated poor person who constantly deals with people, than an overly educated idiot who views this world only through an academic lens while sitting alone on his comfy couch.”
― Abhaidev, The Influencer: Speed Must Have a Limit

“The courtroom is one instance of the fact that while our society may be liberal and democratic in some large and vague sense, its moving parts, its smaller chambers--its classrooms, its workplaces, its corporate boardrooms, its jails, its military barracks--are flagrantly undemocratic, dominated by one commanding person or a tiny elite of power.”
― Howard Zinn, You Can't Be Neutral on a Moving Train: A Personal History of Our Times

“[...] there is one inexorable law of technology, and it is this: when revolutionary inventions become widely accessible, they cease to be accessible. Technology is inherently democratic, because it promises the same services to all; but it works only if the rich are alone using it. When the poor also adopt technology, it stops working. A train used to take two hours to go from A to B; then the motor car arrived, which could cover the same distance in one hour. For this reason cars were very expensive. But as soon as the masses could afford to buy them, the roads became jammed, and the trains started to move faster. Consider how absurd it is for the authorities constantly to urge people to use public transport, in the age of the automobile; but with public transport, by consenting not to belong to the elite, you get where you're going before members of the elite do.”
― Umberto Eco

“What Mr. Rothschild had discovered was the basic principle of power, influence, and control over people as applied to economics. That principle is "when you assume the appearance of power, people soon give it to you."
Mr. Rothschild had discovered that currency or deposit loan accounts had the required appearance of power that could be used to INDUCE PEOPLE [WC emphasis] (inductance, with people corresponding to a magnetic field) into surrendering their real wealth in exchange for a promise of greater wealth (instead of real compensation). They would put up real collateral in exchange for a loan of promissory notes. Mr. Rothschild found that he could issue more notes than he had backing for, so long as he had someone's stock of gold as a persuader to show to his customers.
Mr. Rothschild loaned his promissory notes to individuals and to governments. These would create overconfidence. Then he would make money scarce, tighten control of the system, and collect the collateral through the obligation of contracts. The cycle was then repeated. These pressures could be used to ignite a war. Then he would control the availability of currency to determine who would win the war. That government which agreed to give him control of its economic system got his support.”
― Milton William Cooper, Behold a Pale Horse

“I remember how excited I was to work for the Ivy League. By the time I left, I would not advise anyone to work for them.”
― Steven Magee

“As a manager in the Ivy League, I discovered that the upper management team were seriously undermining my ability to manage my own staff. It was so bad that I eventually left. I now advise people not to work for the Ivy League.”
― Steven Magee

“A self reflection :
Do you know who I am?
Do you know who you are?!”
― Ljupka Cvetanova, Yet Another New Land

“Person of the year - the ordinary person who managed to survive on minimum wage.”
― Ljupka Cvetanova, Yet Another New Land

“My story, my words, my voice – they are priceless.”
― Ravena Guron, This Book Kills

“My home is full of targets,
and they have been hit. Over and over and over.
Meanwhile, the bullseyes sit in penthouses and mansions,
unaffected, watching us
scramble over the arrows.”
― Belle Townsend, Push and Pull

“But the underlying capability of the computer era is actually programming—which almost none of us knows how to do. We simply use the programs that have been made for us, and enter our text in the appropriate box on the screen. We teach kids how to use software to write, but not how to write software. This means they have access to the capabilities given to them by others, but not the power to determine the value-creating capabilities of these technologies for themselves.”
― Douglas Rushkoff, Program or Be Programmed: Ten Commands for a Digital Age

“U.S. elite institutions draw substantial international enrollment, and seventeen of the top twenty-five universities in the world are in the United States.”
― Greg Lukianoff & Jonathan Haidt, The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting up a Generation for Failure

“Security cameras turn on when there is a movement. The main focus being on its leader.”
― Ljupka Cvetanova, Yet Another New Land

“There were times when jesters made people laugh. Now days, they make them cry.”
― Ljupka Cvetanova, Yet Another New Land

“Gary’s made a bit of a name for himself. He’s always in the papers going on about climate change being a hoax. That’s why I was surprised ….’
‘Surprised by what,’ prompts Harbinder because the singer seems to have dried again.
‘All the diners, the members of this club, were men,’ says Chris. ‘And they were all really rich and successful. … Then, after dinner, there was a speaker. She talked about climate change and – my God – she laid it on thick. Rising sea levels, shrinking glaciers, thawing permafrost, temperatures only likely to rise, it’s a hundred seconds to midnight on the doomsday clock. I know a lot of this stuff and I was still depressed. But I expected Gary to argue, to shout her down. I mean, that’s been his schtick for the last few years, right? Global warming is cyclical, it’s all a ruse by lefties to shut down the coal business. That sort of thing. But he agreed with every word. They all did. Then I realised. They believed in climate change. They knew it was happening. They knew better than anyone, with all those directorships of oil companies and the like. They knew but they wanted to stop anyone else understanding the full extent of it. Because it was bad for business.’ – Chris Foster in Bleeding Heart Yard (2022) by Elly Griffiths”
― Elly Griffiths, Bleeding Heart Yard

“These are our special reconnaissance troops. Hand-picked. Disciplined. Smart. We call them the Gatherers.”
― Vincent H. O'Neil, The Gathering Elements

“The opposition are ‘puppets of an age-old and shadowy right-wing elite. They work to keep humanity enthralled. Using and abusing us, encouraging and promoting disharmony in an eternal cosmic struggle, and siphoning off our negative energies for their own nefarious purposes. Evil incarnate – and disincarnate.”
― H.M. Forester, The Imaginal Veil

“Her mind kept drifting to the time she read The Great Gatsby. She didn't understand the social elite then and she doesn't understand them now. They are unpredictable with no moral compass. Money is everything to them yet even Gatsby with all his wealth couldn't win over his prize possession, Daisy. No matter what he had or did, he never fit in the North Shore circle. She couldn't pinpoint what made them tick.”
― Soroosh Shahrivar, Tajrish

“We hebben hier nogal de neiging om dreigingen weg te rationaliseren. De bevolking is terecht bang voor IS, maar krijgt te horen dat de kans statistisch klein is dat je het leven laat in een aanslag. Dat kan wel zijn, maar angst is per definitie irrationeel, en het is zeer begrijpelijk dat mensen bang zijn. Als de elite dat weglacht of wegcijfert, dan gaan we er niet geraken. Eerlijk en open debat, waarbij de dingen benoemd worden. Dat hebben we nodig.”
― Teun Voeten

“Naturally, there are not many graduates of the Zendo life, and this is indeed in the very nature of Zen; for Zen is meant for the élite, for specially gifted minds, and not for the masses.”
― Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki, The Training Of The Zen Buddhist Monk

“The media which is mostly the voice of the elite in our society is the most powerful tool of our century. A man is to the people whatever the media calls him.”
― Paul Bamikole, TREES BY THE RIVER: Wisdom from here and above

“The more I ponder, I wonder if this isn't a searing, modern example of the peasants' historic inclination to doff their caps and tug their forelocks. To take their punishment and to remain silent. The banks tell us to believe the hype, the spin, to praise their brilliance and sophistication. They're smart because they say they are - and we accept they are because they say they are.”
― Chris Blackhurst, Too Big to Jail: Inside HSBC, the Mexican Drug Cartels and the Greatest Banking Scandal of the Century

“But who took the Elder Houses seriously any longer? Most of the current members saw it as nothing more than a genealogical resource and an excuse for the occasional gala.”
― Claudia Gray, Bloodline

“The fact that I was considered part of that elite group, and the idea that other people could rely on me, too, felt life-affirming... I told myself, Mate, you’re good at a job where you have to work in some of the hardest situations any person could face, and you’re considered capable of performing to the highest level. Love it. That always gave me a boost.”
― Jason Fox, Battle Scars: A Story of War and All That Follows