#restraints

It's frightening how easy it is to commit murder in America. Just a drink too much. I can see myself doing it. In England, one feels all the social restraints holding one back. But here, anything can happen. ↗

— W. H. Auden

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#anything #back #commit #doing #drink

The fate of every democracy, of every government based on the sovereignty of the people, depends on the choices it makes between these opposite principles, absolute power on the one hand, and on the other the restraints of legality and the authority of tradition. ↗

— John Acton

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#absolute power #authority #based #between #choices