[T]he proper function of spies is to remind those who rely on spies that the kinds of thing found out by spies can’t be trusted.(via Bruce Schneier
— Malcolm Gladwell
[T]he superstition that the budget must be balanced at all times, once it is debunked, takes away one of the bulwarks that every society must have against expenditure out of control. . . . [O]ne of the functions of old-fashioned religion was to scare people by sometimes what might be regarded as myths into behaving in a way that long-run civilized life requires.