Eclipse of Liberty - Eugenics and Other Evils - G.K. Chesterton - Part 2 - Chapters 5-9

5. The Meanness of the Motive
6. The Eclipse of Liberty
7. The Transformation of Socialism
8. The End of the Household Gods
9. A Short Chapter

Most Eugenists are Euphemists. I mean merely that short words startle them, while long words soothe them. And they are utterly incapable of translating the one into the other, however obviously they mean the same thing. Say to them "The persuasive and even coercive powers of the citizen should enable him to make sure that the burden of longevity in the previous generation does not become disproportionate and intolerable, especially to the females"; say this to them and they will sway slightly to and fro like babies sent to sleep in cradles. Say to them "Murder your mother," and they sit up quite suddenly. Yet the two sentences, in cold logic, are exactly the same. (Summary by Gilbert Keith Chesterton)