Only liars manage to always be out during bad times and in during good times.
So efficient are the available instruments of slavery; fingerprints, lie detectors, brain washings, gas chambers; that we shiver at the thought of political change which might put these instruments in the hands of men of hate.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote highlights the dangers of powerful tools used for oppression and the fear of such tools falling into the wrong hands.
Bernard Baruch's quote addresses the alarming efficiency of various tools used to enforce slavery and control, such as fingerprints, lie detectors, and other methods of coercion. The underlying message is a cautionary one, emphasizing the potential consequences of political change that could result in these powerful instruments being utilized by those who harbor malicious intent. It serves as a reminder of the ethical responsibility that comes with such technologies in the context of governance and societal structure.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a discussion about the ethical implications of surveillance technologies.
More from Bernard Baruch
All quotes →We can't cross that bridge until we come to it, but I always like to lay down a pontoon ahead of time.
No man should think himself a zero, and think he can do nothing about the state of the world.
Unless each man produces more than he receives, increases his output, there will be less for him than all the others.
Nobody ever lost money taking a profit
I was the son of an immigrant. I experienced bigotry, intolerance and prejudice, even as so many of you have. Instead of allowing these thing to embitter me, I took them as spurs to more strenuous effort. .
Similar quotes
If we’re going to have arguments, let’s have arguments — but let’s make them debates worthy of this body and worthy of this country.
But if the laws are to be so trampled upon with impunity, and a minority is to dictate to the majority, there is an end put at one stroke to republican government, and nothing but anarchy and confusion is to be expected thereafter.
In 2008, I spoke out against calling the president a Muslim as if that was a curse. And then in 2012, once again, I was very disturbed about some of the intolerance I was seeing in the party, so I made a statement saying there's a level of intolerance in some parts of the Republican Party. And there was, and I think there still is.
I think democracy is the most revolutionary thing in the world, because if you have power you use it to meet the needs of you and your community.
In a dying civilization, political prestige is the reward not of the shrewdest diagnostician, but of the man with the best bedside manner.
In a democracy, citizens pass judgment on their government, and if they are kept in the dark about what their government is doing, they cannot be in a position to make well-grounded decisions.