Vilfredo Pareto

"It is a known fact that almost all revolutions have been the work, not of the common people, but of the aristocracy, and especially of the decayed part of the aristocracy."

"The assertion that men are objectively equal is so absurd that it does not even merit being refuted."

"Society is not homogeneous, and those who do not deliberately close their eyes have to recognize that men differ greatly from one another from the physical, moral, and intellectual viewpoints."

"Men follow their sentiments and their self-interest, but it pleases them to imagine that they follow reason. And so they look for, and always find, some theory which, a posteriori, makes their actions…"

"The diverse natures of men, combined with the necessity to satisfy in some manner the sentiment which desires them to be equal, has had the result that in the democracies they have endeavored to provi…"

"Empirical laws have only slight or even no value beyond the limits within which they have been observed to be true."

"When it is useful to them, men can believe a theory of which they know nothing more than its name."

"The economic and social theories used by those who take part in the social struggle ought to be judged not by their objective value but primarily for their effectiveness in arousing emotions. The scie…"