It is a strange fact that freedom and equality, the two basic ideas of democracy, are to some extent contradictory. Logically considered, freedom and equality are mutually exclusive, just as society and the individual are mutually exclusive. – Thomas Mann
Respectable means rich, and decent means poor. I should die if I heard my family called decent. – Thomas Mann
All interest in disease and death is only another expression of interest in life. – Thomas Mann
An art whose medium is language will always show a high degree of critical creativeness, for speech is itself a critique of life: it names, it characterizes, it passes judgment, in that it creates. – Thomas Mann
The mandate I have received and for which I will speak with heart and head to implement over the next seven years had its four pillars – an inclusive citizenship, equality and participation and respect in a creative society creating an excellence in everything we Irish do. – Michael D. Higgins