“Power always has to be kept in check; power exercised in secret, especially under the cloak of national security, is doubly dangerous.”

“The ‘Islamic State’, that strange miscegenation of Medina with Westphalia, is always in mortal danger of linking the moral austerity of monotheism with the repressive and supervisor powers of the modern nation state.”

“Human beings -- human children especially -- seldom deny themselves the pleasure of exercising a power which they are conscious of possessing, even though that power consist only in a capacity to make others wretched”

“And the good ruler is precisely the one who exercises his power as it ought to be exercised, that is, simultaneously exercising his power over himself. And it is the power over oneself that thus regulates one's power over others.”

“Toryfrowned at his backpack on the floor and the way he kept it within easy reach."What's in that backpack, by the way? You're always guarding it like itholds national security secrets or something.""Dirtyunderwear."Sherolled her eyes. "Thanks so much for that image.""Youasked.”

“People don't like to be kept away from what they want. Especially when it appears within their reach. It makes one doubly angry.”