“What has made this nation great? Not its heroes but its households.”

“Blind patriotism on the part of its leaders and citizens, far from leading a nation to greatness, will only bring ruin, disgrace and misery to the nation and its people. Self-delusion isn’t complementary to greatness. A nation will be great only if it has the courage to face up to its own shortcomings, and not be blind to its own wrongdoings, failings, mistakes, imperfections and impurities.”

“Compromise, if not the spice of life, is its solidity. It is what makes nations great and marriages happy”

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”

“More and more it is evident that the State, and if necessary the nation, has got to possess the right of supervision and control as regards the great corporations which are its creatures.”

“No nation has its own culture, only its own barbarism.”