Government can't do anything for you except in proportion as it can do something to you. William F. Buckley, Jr. More Quotes by William F. Buckley, Jr. More Quotes From William F. Buckley, Jr. What was wrong with communism wasn't aberrant leadership, it was communism. William F. Buckley, Jr. communismpolitical I am, I fully grant, a phenomenon, but not because of any speed in composition. I asked myself the other day, "Who else, on so many issues, has been so right so much of the time?" I couldn't think of anyone. William F. Buckley, Jr. issuesspeedthinking The Beatles are not merely awful. They are so unbelievably horrible, so appallingly unmusical, so dogmatically insensitive to the magic of the art, that they qualify as crowned heads of anti-music. William F. Buckley, Jr. magicawfulart We are, always, reminded of the old saw: What would happen if the Soviet Union took over the Sahara Desert? Answer: Nothing for 50 years. After that there would be a shortage of sand. William F. Buckley, Jr. desertwould-beyears The principal sponsors of the terrorists are not religious fanatics. "Palestine's Yasser Arafat, Iraq's Saddam Hussein, and Syria's Assad family have made themselves the icons of Islamism despite the fact that they are well-known atheists who live un-Muslim lives and have persecuted unto death the Muslim movements in their countries." William F. Buckley, Jr. atheistreligiouscountry Before there was Ronald Reagan there was Barry Goldwater, and before there was Barry, there was National Review , and before there was National Review there was Bill Buckley with a spark in his mind. William F. Buckley, Jr. sparksbillsmind One must recently have lived on or close to a college campus to have a vivid intimation of what has happened. It is there that we see how a number of energetic social innovators, plugging their grand designs, succeeded over the years in capturing the liberal intellectual imagination. And since ideas rule the world, the ideologues, having won over the intellectual class, simply walked in and started to run things. Run just about everything. There never was an age of conformity quite like this one, or a camaraderie quite like the Liberals'. William F. Buckley, Jr. collegerunningyears Presley brought an excitement to singing, in part because rock and roll was greeted as his invention, but for other reasons not so widely reflected on: Elvis Presley had the most beautiful singing voice of any human being on earth. William F. Buckley, Jr. rocksvoicebeautiful The academic community has in it the biggest concentration of alarmists, cranks and extremists this side of the giggle house. William F. Buckley, Jr. politicscommunityhouse A capitalist is someone who derives a substantial share of his income from his equity in producing companies. On this scale the figures are discouraging. Approximately ninety percent of the capital of this country is owned by five or less percent of the American people. William F. Buckley, Jr. wisdomcountrypeople A good debater is not necessarily an effective vote-getter: you can find a hole in your opponent's argument through which you could drive a coach and four ringing jingle bells all the way, and thrill at the crystallization of a truth wrung out from a bloody dialogue - which, however, may warm only you and your muse, while the smiling paralogist has in the meantime made votes by the tens of thousands. William F. Buckley, Jr. jinglesbellsthrill People are beginning to wish that the voters had been given breathometer tests when they voted in the present government. William F. Buckley, Jr. governmentwishpeople Socialize the individual's surplus and you socialize his spirit and creativeness. William F. Buckley, Jr. surplusindividualspirit The superstition that the hounds of truth will rout the vermin of error seems, like a fragment of Victorian lace, quaint, but too brittle to be lifted out of the showcase. William F. Buckley, Jr. lacesuperstitionserrors You know, I’ve spent my entire life time separating the Right from the kooks. William F. Buckley, Jr. separatinglife-timeknows Why should any country continue, forever, to be "great"? William F. Buckley, Jr. shouldforevercountry History is but the polemics of the victor. William F. Buckley, Jr. polemicshistory One can't doubt that the American objective in Iraq has failed - different plans have to be made. And the kernel here is the acknowledgement of defeat. William F. Buckley, Jr. iraqobjectivitydoubt Nobody who's ever been to Gulag is a pacifist. William F. Buckley, Jr. gulagswarpeace Life can't be all bad when for ten dollars you can buy all the Beethoven sonatas and listen to them for ten years. William F. Buckley, Jr. pianomusicyears
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