Clever people have realised that it is easier to get people on your side by mockery than by persuasion.

Ordinary people put too much faith in the judgment of experts, which is bad for us and bad for the experts.

Taking the trouble to express ourselves more clearly helps us to think more clearly too.

However loud his critics shouted their disapproval, Abraham Lincoln would neither deprive them of free speech nor change his opinions.

Pliny admired Julius Mauricus because he spoke his mind, and Emperor Nerva because he let him.

In January 1807, newspapers breathlessly reported that Napoleon Bonaparte’s rampage across Europe was at an end — but was it true?