Numbers

Famous quotes containing the word numbers:

    The principle of majority rule is the mildest form in which the force of numbers can be exercised. It is a pacific substitute for civil war in which the opposing armies are counted and the victory is awarded to the larger before any blood is shed. Except in the sacred tests of democracy and in the incantations of the orators, we hardly take the trouble to pretend that the rule of the majority is not at bottom a rule of force.
    Walter Lippmann (1889–1974)

    Out of the darkness where Philomela sat,
    Her fairy numbers issued. What then ailed me?
    My ears are called capacious but they failed me,
    Her classics registered a little flat!
    I rose, and venomously spat.
    John Crowe Ransom (1888–1974)

    Individually, museums are fine institutions, dedicated to the high values of preservation, education and truth; collectively, their growth in numbers points to the imaginative death of this country.
    Robert Hewison (b. 1943)