The only freedom supposed to be left to the masses is that of grazing on the ration of simulacra the system distributes to each individual. – Michel De Certeau

Leave this hypocritical prating about the masses. Masses are rude, lame, unmade, pernicious in their demands and influence, and need not to be flattered, but to be schooled. I wish not to concede anything to them, but to tame, drill, divide, and break them up, and draw individuals out of them. – Ralph Waldo Emerson

The multitude of fools is a protection to the wise. – Marcus Tullius Cicero

The mass never comes up to the standard of its best member, but on the contrary degrades itself to a level with the lowest. – Henry David Thoreau