“Politics is beginning to gather itself into an election season in which the price of a candidate's haircuts will be as important for a time as his position on war. The country is entertained, but not engaged. It is drowning in information and thirsty for knowledge.”

“We are drowning in information but starved for knowledge.”

“Fight scarcity power and corruption; correct externalities; try to maximise information; get the incentives right; engage with other countries; and most of all embrace markets, which do most of these jobs at the same time.”

“It is not because a part of the government is elective, that makes it less a despotism, if the persons so elected possess afterwards, as a parliament, unlimited powers. Election, in this case, becomes separated from representation, and the candidates are candidates for despotism.”

“Only a country that feels invulnerable can afford political turmoil as entertainment.”

“The knowledge that we consider knowledge proves itself in action. What we now mean by knowledge is information in action, information focused on results.”