Harry Potter wasn't a normal boy.
As a matter of fact,
he was as not normal
as it is possible to be.
J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, 1999.
"[A]ddiction,"
this is a word
attached to any habitual behaviors
of others
we do not like.
Jeffrey Tucker
"The Myth of the Cell-Phone Addiction," in
Bourbon for Breakfast: Living Outside the Statist Quo, 2010.
Reaching out to others
often becomes the first step
back to human reality.
When someone then responds with love and caring
the recovery process is on its way.
But this rarely happens in the psychiatric system.
When a patient reaches out,
the psychiatrist puts a pill in the hand.
Peter R. Breggin, M.D.
Toxic Psychiatry: Why Therapy, Empathy, and Love
Must Replace the Drugs, Electrochock, and Biochemical Theories
of the "New Psychiatry," 1991
Inara:
Custom has the enviable power,
The right to be let alone
The danger is not that a particular class
The limits of tyrants
"He is an earnest man of piecemeal convictions.
I plugged a Johnny Hartman tape into the stereo
Edgar Cullis could not contest this assertion.
The point about complexity
I welcomed the blizzard,
I contemplate with sovereign reverence
"Why do you want to know all this?
None loves the messenger
Fear is what you feel
To be a philosopher is not merely to have subtle thoughts,
I fear the Greeks
Requests are received as demands
Society is produced by our wants,
It is the besetting vice of democracies
A free society cherishes non-conformity.
"You look like the dragon won today."
It has been often said
I had rather be shut up
The most dangerous man, to any government,
"Truth walks toward us on the paths of our questions."
I have a friend who's an artist
Il est defendu de tuer;
It is forbidden to kill;
If a nation values anything more than freedom,
A boy adopts a hero for two reasons:
Sitting across from her, Jesse could feel her energy.
Even people like me who are familiar with chimps
In the broadest sense, the press means all media of communications--
Those who expect
It has often and confidently been asserted,
Il vaut mieux hasarder de sauver un coupable
It is better to risk sparing a guilty person
"My crew is honest,
"You missed a golden opportunity," I said.
Anyway, I have to argue about flying saucers
Either the people in a relationship
"Well, don't hold out on us.
He closed his eyes
En general, l'art du gouvernement
In general, the art of government
I don't know what's the matter with people;
Self-sufficiency
"You look different."
"Do you think I could be quite wrong?"
It goes without saying that we are fallible.
The next time you are tempted
According to Marx,
He frowned down at the boy:
The French are professional sensualists.
"You're not a stranger;
She noticed the spurning of the Marmite.
Aime la verite,
Love truth,
I have never been able to conceive
[I]n Russia the terrific fear of the young girl worker
"I have to avoid chocolate apparently.
Reading is a habit;
Isabel smiled.
"Daddy boxed in college, you know."
Instead of rushing through our lives to get somewhere--
Sandrine picked a flower and started pulling off its petals.
May you hover like butterflies
If we were left solely
That so few now dare
I'm not confused,
It may then be seen
It could be shown
One thing that doesn't abide by majority rule
"The time has come," the Walrus said,
Curiosity is one of the most
She returned to the kitchen and switched on the radio.
I join those in opinion
Dancing begets warmth,
"Goddammit," Hanson said. "We can fire you.
Never has so much false arithmetic
A cult is
Mirian: "I guess I can put two and two together."
Now, ye want to know
A sweet disorder in the dress
Sam: "There are a lot of ways to make the world a better place
War is the health of the State.
I regard smuggling as a right and proper activity.
"You don't know that," said Molly.
"Hell, we've got them cornered," Jesse said.
"Look Sam, I hope it won't offend you, but--"
Libertarianism is, of course, first and foremost a political idea--
"What do you think?" I asked.
Nothing is lost
After centuries of bloody wars
Whenever students are involved in planning what they will be doing,
As NVC [nonviolent communication] replaces our old patterns
No matter how rational or intelligent one may be,
Our emotions and sensations inform us
Youth cannot know
Political freedom is the corollary
The direct use of physical force
Many people believe down deep:
Why would the governments estimate
No matter in what area we look, then,
It is a deformity in some "radicals"
The key to fostering connection
Punishment is at the root of violence on our planet.
First question: What do we want the other person to do?
What is the second question?
Happiness is the legal tender of the soul.
The plot thickens.
In our own society
"Nothing clears up a case
Individuals are kind and decent . . .
"You were a tramp, weren't you . . . ?"
The more a man knows,
Good teaching
Jefferson helped enshrine liberty in the American consciousness. [K]eep your bow.
Here we subscribe to the ethos
The either-or fallacy
The impetus for this book is Libertarianism.
It is a curious anomaly.
I had us moved into a corner
It is time that we squarely face the fact
The weary yeare his race now hauing run,
Raise your glass.
There is a name for a society where only the police have guns.
The current near-hysterical preoccupation with safety
If we had no other means to judge the Nazi doctrines,
Government is a dirty business.
There is an old saying among the Oaxacanos:
[B]uzzards have a pact
I want it to be understood at the core of the society
Censorship is an ancient evil,
Oh, "tanstaafl." Means "There ain't no such thing
Men are whipped oftenest
"Are you trying to get me drunk?"
Conservatism, though a necessary element in any stable society,
A good heart will help you
Ira furor brevis est.
But it is not the capital employed
School is a twelve-year jail sentence
I thundered hot water into the big tub,
It is because peaceful agitation and passive resistance
Why is our government
The more one's vocabulary
In wine-drinking cultures,
A cucumber should be well sliced,
Certain people never learn
Nothing is so useless
The Libertarian Creed rests upon one central axiom:
Let no one put off studying philosophy when he is young,
Government's a disease
The alternative is not
But the other vitality is still there,
"I like you, young man.
Fuzzy language causes
While I'm a great believer in karate, judo, and other variations
It is a curious fact
Those who cavalierly reject the Theory of Evolution,
A half hour with Thomas Jefferson
A government is as strong as its income.
At eighteen months he weighed over a hundred pounds,
No politician has yet gained votes
E pur si muove.
It is quite a three-pipe problem.
"You just don't get it, do you?" Kenner said.
"Remember the engineer's creed."
The right of a person to the product of his own labor
By preventing a free market in education,
The affinities of all the beings of the same class
A lasting order
I don't argue with lasers;
That's why they can never make it.
If one has a book, Mr. Boone,
You aren't compelled to loan your car
Some people would advise us
It is not written in the stars
A man with a rage
I do not trust fervor.
More than any group we can think of,
It would seem, then,
The process of science
I am here tonight for the purpose
Stop worring about whether she loves you.
Detailed instructions
Dream good dreams.
I read a great deal.
[I]t isn't foolish or wicked
And say not thou "My country right or wrong."
A chief event of life
How many unjust
In the kingdom of the blind
A belief is not true
'Mid pleasures and palaces
If you put a chain
There is no worse heresy
It is better that ten guilty escape
The sorrow for the dead
During war we imprison
The true danger is when liberty is nibbled away,
It is the characteristic
There is no greater fallacy than the belief
[W]e never listen
The enemy aggressor is always pursuing a course
Man is a plant which bears thoughts,
Governments have ever been careful
How many a man
You shall have joy
Human felicity is produced
Of all the enemies to public liberty
A long habit of not thinking a thing wrong
Morality cannot exist one minute without freedom. . . .
A man should never be ashamed
Far from establishing liberty throughout the world,
Passion, joined with power,
The century is advanced,
We thought, because we had power,
The wicked are always surprised
Every central government
We find it easy to believe
How is the world ruled
Women deprived of the company of men pine,
Anger always thinks it has power
And I cannot see,
It is one thing
Kings are naturally lovers
When once the itch of literature
The number of laws is constantly growing in all countries,
The best way to suppose what may come,
When a government takes over a people's economic life
The number of those
When all the fine phrases are stripped away,
Every great advance
The object of the state
Happiness is never as welcome
Fear is the foundation
The test of a vocation
There can be no freedom
Truth often suffers more
To preserve liberty,
He that would know what shall be,
Most all the time,
Every strengthening of the State machine
What did I say to you
Mal:
That it was manly and impulsive?
Inara:
Yes, precisely,
only the exact phrase I used was "don't."
Joss Whedon
from, "The Train Job," Firefly: The Official Companion, 2006
of coming to conclusions
upon the most debatable points,
without a moment's consideration--
of turning propositions
of a very doubtful character
into axioms--
and of setting aside almost self-evident truths
as unworthy of consideration.
Herbert Spencer
The Proper Sphere of Government, 1842
is the underlying principle
of the Constitution's
Bill of Rights.
Erwin N. Griswold
Address, Northwestern University Law School, June 11, 1960
is unfit to govern;
every class is unfit to govern.
Lord Acton
April 24, 1881
are prescribed by the endurance
of those whom they suppress.
Frederick Douglass
Letter to Gerrit Smith, March 30, 1849
I do not believe he will grant himself
the time to examine them so closely
that he would see that no concordance
is possible among them."
Easley shook his head, "Oh, no, sir.
They must be in concordance, my good friend,
in some habit of way,
for otherwise he would go mad.
Perhaps you meant
that it is a harmonious unity of convictions
that he lacks."
Hugh laughed and threw up his hands.
Edward Cline
Sparrowhawk: Book Three: Caxton, 2004.
on the assumption that it was never too soon
to start his education.
He paid no attention.
Robert B. Parker
Early Autumn, 1981
His knowledge of practical politics
lay in land patents and statutes.
His mind was not friendly to hypotheses . . . .
Edward Cline
Sparrowhawk: Book Four: Empire, 2004
counts against government intervention, not for it.
The major contribution of F.A. Hayek to social theory
is to point out that the social order--
which extends to the whole of the world--
is far too complicated to be managed by bureaus,
but rather depends on the decentralized
knowledge and decisions of billions of market actors.
In other words, he gave new credibility
to the insight of classical liberals
that social order is self-managing
and can only be distorted by attempts to centrally plan.
Planning, ironically, leads to social chaos.
Jeffrey Tucker
Bourbon for Breakfast: Living Outside the Statist Quo, 2010
with its ferocious winds
and deep, drifting snow.
This may be enough to keep the wolves,
also know as the Peacekeepers,
from my door.
Suzanne Collins
Catching Fire, 2009
that act of the whole American people
which declared that their legislature
would make no law respecting an establishment of religion,
or prohibit the free exercise thereof,
thus building a wall of separation
between church and state.
Thomas Jefferson
Letter to the Baptists of Danbury, connecticut, 1802
Furniture and everything?"
"It's good to know what you can.
I'm not sure even what I'm up to.
I'm just gathering information.
There's so much that I can't know,
and so many things I can't predict,
that I like to get everything I can in order
so that when the unpredictable stuff comes along
I can concentrate on that."
Robert B. Parker
Looking for Rachel Wallace, 1980
who brings bad news.
Sophocles
Antigone, circa 442 B.C.E.
when you wait for something bad to happen . . .
and fun is what you have
when you figure out
a way to make something good happen.
O.T. Nelson
The Girl Who Owned a City, 1975
nor even to found a school,
but so to love wisdom
as to live according to its dictates,
a life of simplicity, independence, magnanimity, and trust.
Henry David Thoreau
Walden, 1854
though bearing gifts.
Virgil
The Aenid, circa 19 B.C.E.
when others believe
they will be blamed
or punished
if they do not comply.
Marshall B. Rosenberg
Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life, 2005
and government by our wickedness.
Thomas Paine
Common Sense, 1776
to substitute public opinion
for law.
This is the usual form
in which the masses of men
exhibit their tyranny.
James Fenimore Cooper
The American Democrat, 1838
It knows that from a non-conformist, from the eccentric,
have come many of the great ideas of freedom.
Free society must fertilize the soil
in which non-conformity and dissent and individualism can grow.
Henry Steele Commager
Speech, National Conference on Adult Education, 1954.
Robert B. Parker
Looking for Rachel Wallace, 1980
that he who begins life
by stifling his convictions
is in a fair way to ending it
without any convictions to stifle.
John Morley
On Compromise, 1874
in a very modest cottage
with my books, my family and a few old friends . . .
than to occupy the most splendid post
which any human power can give.
Thomas Jefferson
Letter to A. Donald, 1788
is the man who is able to think things out for himself,
without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos.
Almost inevitably he come to the conclusion
that the government he lives under
is dishonest, insane and intolerable,
and so, if he is romantic,
he tries to change it.
And even if he is not romantic personally
he is very apt to spread discontent among those who are.
H.L. Mencken
A Mencken Chrestomathy, 1949
Maurice's voice once again echoed in her mind.
"As soon as you think you have the answer,
you have closed the path
and may miss valuable information.
Wait awhile in the stillness,
and do not rush to conclusions,
no matter how uncomfortable the unknowing."
Jacqueline Winspear
Maise Dobbs, 2003
and he sometimes takes a view which I don't agree with.
He'll hold up a flower and say,
"Look how beautiful it is," and I'll agree.
But then he'll say,
"I, as an artist, can see how beautiful a flower is.
But you, as a scientist, take it all apart and it becomes dull."
I think he's kind of nutty. . . .
There are all kinds of interesting questions
that come from a knowledge of science,
which only adds to the excitement and mystery and awe of a flower.
It only adds.
I don't understand how it subtracts.
Richard Feynman
What Do You Care What Other People Think? 1988
tout meurtrier est puni,
a moins qu'il n'ait tue en grande compagnie,
et au son des trompettes.
therefore all murderers are punished
unless they kill in large numbers
and to the sound of trumpets.
Francois-Marie Arouet (Voltaire)
"Rights," 1771
it will lose its freedom;
and the irony of it is
that if it is comfort or money that it values more,
it will lose that too.
W. Somerset Maugham
Strictly Personal, 1941
because a hero captivates his soul
and serves as a projection of his innermost self;
and because a hero seems to have solved many problems
that may worry a boy,
or at least demonstrates the capacity to solve them.
The hero is an idealization of successful living,
even though he may die in a story.
The death may be gallant, brave, tragic, or perhaps even foolhardy.
But living or dead, a hero is the stylistic embodiement
of living on one's own terms--
noble terms, grand terms, exciting terms--
terms, in short, that complement any youth's
uncorrupted, untamed, unabridged projection
of what is possible to him in life.
Edward Cline
Sparrowhawk: Book Two: Hugh Kendrick, 2002
There was a sense of intelligence
and of kinetic sensuality that radiated from her in equal portions.
"Are you thinking long thoughts?" Rita said.
"Mostly I'm thinking, wow."
"Good," Rita said. "I like wow."
Robert B. Parker
Stone Cold, 2003
barely even know there are two
"closest living relatives" to humans.
Like an embarrassing relative,
bonobos are frequestly missing from the family tree.
According to Microsoft Word's spell-checker
"bonobo" isn't even a word.
Vanessa Woods
Bonobo Handshake, 2010
newspapers, magazines, books, radio, television.
It includes every method by which men spread ideas and information.
The press is the profession that communicates knowledge.
Ayn Rand
Columbia University radio series, "Ayn Rand on Campus," aired 1962-1966
"The Role of a Free Press,"
Quoted in Objectively Speaking: Ayn Rand Interviewed,
Edited by Marlene Podritske and Peter Schwartz, 2009
to reap the blessings of freedom must,
like men,
undergo the fatigue of supporting it.
Thomas Paine
The American Crises, September 12, 1777
that man's origin can never be known;
but ignornace more frequently begets confidence
than does knowledge;
it is those who know little, and not those who know much,
who so positively assert
that this or that problem will never be solved
by science.
Charles Darwin
The Descent of Man, 1871
que de condamner un innocent.
than to condemn an innocent man.
Francois-Marie Arouet (Voltaire)
Zadig, 1747
but I won't vouch for the other passengers or for the limpets."
"Limpets, sir?"
"Never heard the term at Lion Key?" Ramshaw chuckled.
"That's our name for bureaucrats, and customs officials,
and other two-legged albatrosses."
Edward Cline
Sparrowhawk: Book Two: Hugh Kenrick, 2002
"For what?"
"To take off all your clothes
and make a martini and surprise me at the door."
"I thought of that," Susan said,
"but you don't like martinis."
"Oh," I said.
Robert B. Parker
Looking for Rachel Wallace, 1980
on the beach with people, you know.
And I was interested in this:
they keep arguing that it is possible.
And that's true. It is possible.
They do not appreciate that the problem
is not to demonstrate whether it's possible or not
but whether it's going on or not.
Richard Feynman
The Meaning of It All: Thoughts of a Citizen Scientist, 1998
have the authority to establish
the conditions of their relationship (liberty)
or someone outside the relationship
has the authority to establish those conditions (mastery).
In principle, all relationships between contracting, consenting people
are personal, irrespective of the nature of those arrangements.
It is inconsistent to abhor
intrusion into relationships taking place in the bedroom,
while embracing intrusions into relationships
taking place in the boardroom, or vice versa.
Louis E. Carabini
Inclined to Liberty: The Futile Attempt to Suppress the Human Spirit,
2008
I throw a lot of investigative work your way."
"Yeah, and it's real exciting too, " I said.
"Don't knock it, money's good."
"Money's not everything, Jack," I said.
"Maybe not, but you ever try spending sex?"
"There's something wrong with that argument,"
I said, "but I can't think what right now.
I may call you later with my comeback."
Robert B. Parker
Early Autumn, 1981
and was asleep
before he could get his worries organized.
Robert A. Heinlein
Farnham's Frehold, 1964
consiste a prendre le plus d'argent
qu'on peut a un grande des citoyens,
pour le donner a une autre partie.
consists in taking as much money as possible
from one party of the citizens
to give to the other.
Francoise-Marie Arouet (Voltiare)
"Money," 1770
they don't learn by understanding,
they learn by some other way--
by rote or something.
Their knowledge is so fragile.
Richard Feynman
Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! 1985
is the road to poverty.
Russell Roberts
The Price of Everything: A Parable of Possibility and Prosperity, 2008
"In my former life, I was an actor."
"What's an actor?"
"An actor is a person who entertains others
by being someone else.
Sometimes he is paid with money;
other times, with rotten fruit."
Edward Cline
Sparrowhawk, 2001
That thought had occurred frequently.
Isabel's training as a philosopher
would have been in vain
had she not opened herself up to doubt.
Doubt was a constant,
a condition of her being.
"Often, " said Isabel thoughtfully.
Then she added, "But not now."
Alexander McCall Smith
The Right Attitude to Rain, 2006
With the best will in the world,
we can still make mistakes.
But reason--in the global sense in which I define it here--
offers us the possibility of self-correction.
That is one of its unique characteristics.
Other alleged paths to knowledge,
such as faith or feeling,
do not share this possibility;
that is, they lack an inbuilt self-correcting dynamism.
Sometimes they may disclose a truth,
sometimes not,
but they have no internal means
to distinguish,
no internal standard by which to detect error
or the way to its correction.
Nathaniel Branden
The Art of Living Consciously, 1997
to snap at someone
or cut in front of another driver,
consider whether you'd like to be in their story that evening.
Consider whether this is the kind of contribution
you'd like to make to their life.
Mary Mackenzie
Peaceful Living: Daily Meditations for Living with Love, Healing and Compassion, 2005
all the value of a good derives
from the labor that goes into its production.
This labor theory of value is in opposition
to the subjective theory of value,
which posits the value of a good or service
is determined by individuals,
regardless of the time and energy (labor)
that went into its production.
The labor theory of value is fallacious;
if it were not so,
one of my paintings (God forbid!)
would be as valuable
as one by Vincent van Gogh.
Louis E. Carabini
Inclined to Liberty: The Futile Attempt to Suppress the Human Spirit, 2008
"You don't believe in vaporous spirits, do you, Mr. Frake?"
"No sir," said the boy. "Not in any."
"Why not?"
"If they existed, nothing would make sense."
Edward Cline
Sparrowhawk, 2001
Debra Ollivier
What French Women Know about Love, Sex, and Other Matters of the Heart and Mind, 2009
you're an old friend
we haven't know very long."
Robert A. Heinlein
Friday, 1982
That, she said, was her test of acculturation.
Only the most determined of anglophiles would eat Marmite,
and not even all of those.
For the rest, it was an inexplicable British taste,
quite beyond sympathy.
Drinking lukewarm beer
and taking tea with lashings of milk were understandable,
even to a Texan for whom iced tea was only natural;
but to spread on one's toast
a salty black yeast paste
was beyond comprehension.
Alexander McCall Smith
The Right Attitude to Rain, 2006
mais pardonne a l'erreur.
but pardon error.
Francois-Marie Arouet (Voltaire)
Sept Discours en Vers sur l"Homme, (1738)
how any rational being
could propose happiness to himself
from the exercise of power over others.
Thomas Jefferson
Letter to M.D. Tracy, 1811
is the fear of losing her job.
Once it is gone, it is almost impossible for her to get another job,
since under the collectivist state,
the government is the only employer.
And if the government has discharged you,
it is rather unreasonable to expect
the same boss to take you back again.
Ayn Rand
Interview on life in Russia, in the Boston Post, 1936
Quoted in Objectively Speaking: Ayn Rand Interviewed,
Edited by Marlene Podritske and Peter Schwartz, 2009
And that's very hard.
Even the thought of chocolate is difficult for me.
It's such a yearning."
Isabel agreed with this.
"Chocolate involves major philosophical problems," she said.
"It shows us a lot about temptations and self-control."
She thought for a moment.
There was a lot that one might say about chocolate,
if one thought about it.
"Yes," she concluded, "chocolate is a great test, isn't it?"
Alexander McCall Smith
Friends, Lovers, Chocolate, 2005
I think it should be a daily ritual,
like brushing your teeth. . . .
[W]e need to make time for books!
Alexandra Stoddard
Living a Beautiful Life, 1986
Listening to Derek had made her feel better.
There were countless injustices and difficulties in this world,
but small points of light too,
where the darkness was held back.
Alexander McCall Smith
Friends, Lovers, Chocolate, 2005
"I know."
"Did you ever box?"
"I don't box," Jesse said. "I fight."
"What's the difference?"
"Rules," Jesse said.
Robert B. Parker
Stone Cold, 2003
instead of saving up real living for later--
I think it's important to remember
that each single day is all we have.
Single days experienced fully
add up to a lifetime lived deeply and well.
Today is your life--
not yesterday and not tomorrow.
If we have tomorrow,
it will be a gift,
but what we do today, right now,
will have an accumulated effect on all our tomorrows.
Alexandra Stoddard
Living a Beautiful Life, 1986
To my surprise, however, rather than the familiar refrain,
"He loves me, he loves me not. He loves me, he loves me not,"
Sandrine carefully intoned:
He loves me a little, a lot, passionately, madly, not at all"
(Il m'aime un peu, beaucoup, passionnement, a la folie, pas du tout).
I instantly thought that Sandrine was one clever little girl
until I learned that, no, this is the standard French refrain.
This is how French girls have been thinking about love forever:
He loves me a little.
A lot.
Passionately.
Madly.
Not at all.
How unfair. While we American girls
are stuck in the absolutes of total love or utter rejection,
the French girl is already primed to think
in nunaces and in an infinite gamut of romance.
Debra Ollivier
What French Women Know About Love, Sex and Other Matters of the Heart and Mind, 2009
and only land on flowers
that open to hold you.
Maria Pallotta-Chiarolli
Love You Two, 2010
to the wordy wit of legislators in Congress
for our guidance,
uncorrected by the seasonal experience
and the effectual complaints of the people,
America would not long retain
her rank among the nations.
Henry David Thoreau
On the Duty of Civil Disodedience, 1849
to be eccentric,
marks the chief danger
of our time.
John Stuart Mill
On Liberty, 1859
I'm just well mixed.
Robert Frost
Wall Street Journal, August 5, 1969
that in obedience to principles and practice well understood,
true wine lovers sip their wine.
Every mouthful thus gives them
the sum total of pleasure
which they would not have enjoyed
had they swallowed it all at once.
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin
Physiologie du Gout, 1825
by facts and figures
that there is no distinctly native
American criminal class
except Congress.
Mark Twain
Following the Equator, 1897
is a person's conscience.
Harper Lee
To Kill a Mockingbird, 1960
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing wax--
of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."
Lewis Carroll
Through the Looking Glass, 1872
permanent and certain characteristics
of a vigorous intellect.
Samuel Johnson
"Rambler," no. 103, March, 1751
It was the end of a news programme,
and the world, as usual,
was in disarray.
Alexander McCall Smith
The Sunday Philosophy Club, 2004
who think a Bill of Rights necessary.
Thomas Jefferson
letter to Edward Rutledge, 1788
which is the parent of wantonness.
Henry Fielding
Love in Several Masques, Act 3, scene 7, 1728
"You can," Jesse said.
"But you can't tell me what to do."
Robert B. Parker
Stone Cold, 2003
[been] employed on any subject
as that which has been employed
to persuade nations it is in their interest
to go to war.
Thomas Jefferson
Notes on the State of Virginia, 1782
a religion
with no political power.
Tom Wolfe
In Our Times, 1980
Nick: "Sometimes the answer's four," I said,
"and sometimes it's twenty-two."
Dashiell Hammett
The Thin Man, 1934
how to get from here tae there.
Well, I'll tell ye.
It's verra simple: don't obey.
If someone give you orders, ignore them.
Don't obey anything
but your own judgment.
Nicholas Dykes
Old Nick's Guide to Happiness: A Philosophical Novel, 2008
Kindles in clothes a wantonness.
Robert Herrick
"Delight in Disorder," in
Hesperides; or the Works both Human and Divine of Robert Herrick, 1648
without using the political process or the law.
. . .
I don't believe you make the world a better place by legislation.
You're just as likely to harm as you are to help.
And when you use legislation,
you discourgage the private actions that might do the job in a more effective way."
. . .
Laura: "This comes back to our old argument.
I don't want to wait for people to become better.
I'm not as patient as you."
Sam: "And I'm not as comfortable with coercion as you are."
Russell Roberts
The Invisible Heart, 2001
Randolph Bourne
Essay: "War Is the Health of the State," in
The State, 1918 (unfinished at his death).
The smuggler is brave enough
to defy the parasites in Whitehall
and hopefully smart enough
to outwit their minions.
Smuggling is a noble business, always has been.
Nicholas Dykes
Old Nick's Guide to Happiness: A Philosophical Novel, 2008
Peter, unable to think of a good answer,
settled for looking annoyed.
Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
Peter and the Starcatchers, 2004
"Can your people do the clerical work?"
"Am I the homicide commander?" Healy said.
"Can they do it fast?"
I am the homicide commander.
I am not God."
"I thought they were the same thing," Jesse said.
"Think how disappointed I am," Healy said.
Robert B. Parker
Stone Cold, 2003
"Very little offends me. Disagreement never offends me."
Russell Roberts
The Invisible Heart, 2001
based on respect for liberty and (therefore) opposition to the use of force.
Since nowadays government is the chief initiator of force--
mandating, prohibiting, taxing, censoring,
and in general intimidating and controlling at will--
libertarians are united in the desire to restrict government power.
Jon Osborne
Miss Liberty's Guide to Film and Video:
Movies for the Libertarian Millennium, 2001
"All my clients are innocent."
"Yeah," I said, "of something, anyway."
Robert B. Parker
The Godwulf Manuscript, 1973
that we do not first see as lost.
Terry Brooks
Magic Kingdom For Sale: Sold, 1986
against power gone amok,
it is frightening how easily man casts his lot
with the authority of the uniform.
Robert H. Rimmer
Proposition Thirty-One, 1968
it is likely that good teaching is going on.
This planning involves real choices
and not simple preferences such as what color crayon to use,
or the order in which a set of topics will be discussed.
Students may be asked to select a topic for study,
to decide what resources they will need,
or to plan how they will present their findings to others.
People learn to make informed choices
by actually making informed choices.
Following directions
--even perfectly--
does not prepare people to make life choices
and deal with the consequences of those choices.
Dr. Martin Haberman
Star Teachers: The Ideology and Best Practice of Effective Teachers of Diverse Children and Youth in Poverty, 2005
of defending, withdrawing, or attacking in the face of judgment and criticism,
we come to perceive ourselves and others,
as well as our intentions and relationships,
in a new light.
Resistance, defensiveness, and violent reactions are minimized.
When we focus on clarifying what is being
observed, felt, and needed
rather than on diagnosing and judging,
we discover the depth of our our own compassion.
Through its emphasis on deep listening--
to ourselves as well as others--
NVC fosters respect, attentiveness, and empathy,
and engenders a mutual desire to give from the heart.
Marshall B. Rosenberg
Nonviolent Communication: A Language of Life, 2005
one cannot always attain certain knowledge
of the consequences of one's actions.
. . .
This uncertainity, which is an inherent part of life,
does not change the principles of moral action.
The race is not always to the swift,
or success to the rational--
but that's the way to bet.
Ronald E. Merrill
The Ideas of Ayn Rand, 1991
about the status of our needs.
Pleasurable emotions,
like joy, excitement or delight,
tell us that some of our needs have been met
or we believe they will be.
Painful emotions,
like fear, anger, sadness, hurt or embarrassment,
tell us that some of our needs aren't met,
or we believe they won't be.
Wayland Myers
Nonviolent Communication: The Basics As I Know and Use Them, 1998
how age thinks and feels.
But old men are guilty
if they forget
what it was to be young.
Professor Albus Dumbledore in
J.K. Rowling's
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 2003
of economic freedom.
. . .
If individuals are not free
to buy and sell on the market,
they turn into virtual slaves
dependent on the good graces
of omnipotent government,
whatever the wording of the constitution may be.
Ludwig von Mises
Planning for Freedom, 1952
is so poor a solution
to the problem of limited resources
that is is commonly employed
only by small children
and great nations.
David Friedman
The Machinery of Freedom: Guide to a Radical Capitalism, 1973
If children have nothing to fear,
how can they be good?
Goodness that depends on fear of hell
or fear of the policeman
or fear of punishment
is not goodness at all--
it is simply cowardice.
Goodness that depends on hope of reward
or hope of praise
or hope of heaven
depends on bribery.
A.S. Neill
Summerhill: A Radical Approach to Child Rearing, 1960
the costs and expected price so poorly?
What is their incentive to do so accurately?
They have no stockholders to face,
only taxpayers.
Taxpayers tend to have fewer places to turn
than investors in a private company.
Russell Roberts
The Choice: A Fable of Free Trade and Protectionism, 2001
we find no evidence of equality among men.
We find instead the most all-encompassing diversity and inequality.
. . .
This diveristy or inequality,
far from being a problem to be overcome,
is the basis of much of our civilized social order.
If all individuals were the same,
there would be no division of labor, no trade would take place,
and there would seem to be little purpose
to any social intercourse.
It is the differences between individuals,
not their similarities,
which provide us with opportunity for personal growth
and for ever-richer social order.
H. George Resch
"Human Variation and Individuality," in
The Twelve-Year Sentence: Radical Views of Compulsory Schooling,
edited by William F. Richenbacker, 1974
to imagine that, once they have found
the lowest or meanest motive
for an action or for a person,
they have correctly identified
the authentic or "real" one.
Many a purge or show trial
has gotten merrily under way in this manner.
Christopher Hitchens
Thomas Paine's Rights of Man, 2006
in the face of a "no"
is to remember that
"no" is always "yes" to something else
and, as such, it is the beginning,
not the end of a conversation.
Inbal Kashtan
Parenting from Your Heart, 2005
There are ways of maintaining social rules and regulations
that do not involve any kind of punishment.
If we ask two questions of ourselves,
we will see that punishment never works.
Now, if we ask only that question,
one can make an argument for punishment.
You can probably think of times when you know
that somebody was influenced to do something
either by being punished for what they had done
or out of a threat of punishment.
However, when we add the second question,
we see that punishment never works.
What do we want the other person's reasons to be
for doing as we request.
Marshall B. Rosenberg,
Teaching Children Compassionately: How Students and Teachers Can Succeed with Mutual Understanding, 2005
Joy is wealth.
Robert G. Ingersoll
"The Liberty of Man, Woman and Child, " 1877
Sherlock Holmes
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
in "A Study in Scarlet," 1887
we could do much more than we do now
to encourage self development.
We could, for example,
drop the increasingly silly fiction
that education is for youngsters
and devise many more arrangements
for lifelong learning.
Robert H Rimmer
The Harrad Experiment, 1966
so much as stating it
to another person."
Sherlock Holmes
by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
in "Silver Blaze," 1892
as individuals and to other individuals.
Eve is in no danger from her neighbors and friends,
and I am in no danger from mine.
But she is in danger from my neighbors and friends--
and I from hers.
Robert A Heinlein
Methuselah's Children, 1958.
"Not a tramp," Thomas corrected gently, "a hobo."
"Sorry--what's the distinction?"
"A tramp is a bum, a parasite, a man that won't work.
A hobo is an itenerant laborer
who prefers casual freedom
to security.
He works for his living,
but won't be tied down to one environment."
Robert A. Heinlein
Sixth Column, 1949
the more willing he is to learn--
the less a man knows,
the more positive he is
that he knows everything.
Robert Ingersoll
"On Learning and Genius," in
The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll, Dresden Edition, Volume Twelve. 1900.
is a process of "drawing out"
rather than "stuffing in."
Dr. Martin Haberman
Star Teachers: The Ideology and Best Practice of Effective Teachers of Diverse Children and Youth in Poverty, 2005
It is what the American Dream is all about.
Not the dream of riches,
but the dream of the pursuit of happiness
as the individual perceives it.
Russel Roberts
The Invisible Heart, 2001
We must trust these people,
though not to the point of foolishness.
Christopher Paolini
Eragon, 2002
that it is not enough
to have the courage of your convictions,
but you must also have
the courage to have your convictions challenged.
Christopher Phillips
Socrates Cafe, 2001
is the false assumption that there are only two positions, A and B,
so if A is wrong then B must be right.
The fallacy is that discrediting A does not demonstrate B.
Both A and B could be wrong
and a third alternative could be correct.
Michael Shermer
Why Darwin Matters, 2006
The basic premise of this philosophy is that
it is illegitimate to engage in aggression against non-aggressors.
What is meant by agression is not assertiveness, argumentativeness,
competitiveness, adventurousness, quarrelsomeness, or antagonism.
What is meant by aggression is the use of violence,
such as that which takes place in murder, rape, robbery or kidnapping.
Libertarianism does not imply pacifism;
it does not forbid the use of violence in defense
or even in retaliation against violence.
Libertarian philosophy condemns only the initiation of violence--
the use of violence against a non-violent person or his property.
Walter Block
Defending the Undefendable, 1976
State power has an unbroken record
of inability to do anything
efficiently, economically, disinterestedly or honestly;
yet when the slightest dissatisfaction arises
over any exercise of social power,
the aid of the agent least qualified to give aid
is immediately called for.
Albert Jay Nock
Our Enemy, the State, 1935
where I could put my back against a wall.
Wild Bill Hickok had once, just once,
made the mistake of sitting with his back to the door.
I'd hate to make him feel,
wherever he is,
that he'd died in vain.
Donald Hamilton
The Demolishers 1987
that institutional schoolteaching
is destructive to children.
John Taylor Gatto
Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling, 1992
The new begins his compast course anew;
with shew of morning mylde he hath begun,
betokening peace and plenty to ensew.
So let vs, which this chaunge of weather vew,
chaunge eeke our mynds and former liues amend,
the old yeares sinnes forepast let vs eschew
and fly the faults with which we did offend.
Then shall the new yeares ioy forth freshly send
into the glooming world his gladsome ray:
and all these stormes which now his beauty blend,
shall turne to caulmes and tymely cleare away.
So likewise loue cheare you your heauy spright,
and chaunge old yeares annoy to new delight.
Edmund Spenser
Amoretti, Sonnet 62, 1595
Repeat after me:
We drink to a great moral truth:
Good Friends! Good Wine! Good Bread!
Joy unsurpassed unto the end!
Angelo M. Pellegrini
Wine and the Good Life, 1965
It is called a police state.
John Ross
Unintended Consequences, 1996
is at best a waste of resources
and a crimp on the human spirit,
and at worst an invitation
to totalitarianism.
Michael Crichton
State of Fear, 2004
the single fact that they seek shelter behind the Gestapo
would be sufficient evidence against them.
Doctrines which can stand the trial of logic and reason
can do so without persecuting skeptics.
Ludwig von Mises
Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War, 1944
Robert A. Heinlein
Friday, 1982
The most bitter remorse
is for the sins one did not commit.
John D. MacDonald
Dress Her in Indigo, 1969
with death.
Louis L'Amour
The Broken Gun 1966
that the right to weapons is a fundamental right.
As long as you have a relatively law-abiding society,
weapons in general ownership and use
prevent tyranny from taking hold.
Nothing else in history has ever managed it.
John Ringo
There Will Be Dragons, 2003
and liberation from it
is the fuel of progress.
A.C. Grayling
"Information," from, The Heart of Things: Applying Philosophy to the 21st Century, 2005
as a free lunch."
Robert A Heinlein
The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress, 1966
who are whipped easiest.
Frederick Douglass
Life and Times of Frederick Douglass, 1881
"Never," Peter smiled.
"I dislike women who don't know what they're doing.
Let's say I'm trying to make you amenable."
Robert H. Rimmer
Proposition 31, 1968
is not a social program;
in its paternalistic, nationalistic, and power-adoring tendencies
it is often closer to socialism than true liberalism;
and with its traditionalistic, anti-intellectual, and often mystical propensities
it will never, except in short periods of disillusionment,
appeal to the young and all those others
who believe that some changes are desirable
if this world is to become a better place.
Friedrich A. Hayek
The Road to Serfdom, 1944
to a bonny face . . . ."
Emily Bronte
Wuthering Heights, 1847
Anger is a short madness.
Horace, 65 to 8 B.C.E.
that creates profits and losses.
Capital does not "beget profit" as Marx thought.
The capital goods as such are dead things that in themselves
do not accomplish anything.
If they are utilized according to a good idea, profit results.
If they are utilized according to a mistaken idea,
no profit or losses result.
It is the entrepreneurial decision
that creates either profit or loss.
It is mental acts, the mind of the entrepreneur,
from which profits ultimately originate.
Profit is a product of the mind,
of success in anticipating the future state of the market.
It is a spiritual and intellectual phenomenon.
Ludwig von Mises
Planning for Freedom, 1952
where bad habits are the only curriculum truly learned.
John Taylor Gatto
Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling, 1992
setting up McGee's Handy Home Treatment for Melancholy.
A deep hot bath,
and a strong cold drink,
and a book on the tub rack.
John D. MacDonald
A Deadly Shade of Gold, 1965
are weapons more deadly to tyranny
than any others
that I uphold them. . . .
[B]rute force stengthens tyranny. . . .
War and authority are companions;
peace and liberty are companions.
Benjamin Tucker
"The Philosophical Anarchists," Liberty, July 31, 1886
as quoted in The Debates of Liberty, by Wendy McElroy, 2003
so often dimwitted, slow and wasteful?
Because the Founders planned it that way,
thank heavens.
Richard J. Maybury
Whatever Happened to Justice?, 1993
and writing (and reading)
ability increases . . .
the more one will use the dictionary!
Walter H. Head
A Born-Again View of Religion Versus A Philosophy of Thinking in Principles, 2001
children used to be given a few drops
of wine in their water to accustom them to the taste.
People grow up with wine at the dinner table;
it's part of the family meal.
Since children aren't prohibited from touching the stuff,
it doesn't become "forbidden fruit" like beer and wine do in our culture.
As a result, kids don't bend over backward
to get their hands on it when the adults aren't around,
and then proceed to get drunk.
Leslie Brenner
Fear of Wine: An Introductory Guide to the Grape, 1995
and dressed with pepper and vinegar,
and then thrown out,
as good for nothing.
Samuel Johnson
Boswell: Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides, October 5, 1773
that if they push enough folks around long enough,
sooner or later they'll start shoving somebody who won't take it.
He'll blow right up in their faces
and demolish them and the surrounding landscape;
and they--those who are left--
will scream about how misunderstood and abused they are,
and why didn't somebody tell them
the guy was dangerous so they could be nice to him?
It never seems to occur to them
that there's a very simple answer:
just be nice to everybody.
Donald Hamilton
The Demolishers 1987
as a general maxim.
Lord Macaulay
Machiavelli, 1827
that no man or group of men may aggress
against the person or property of anyone else.
This may be called the "nonaggression axiom."
Murray N. Rothbard
For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto, 1973
nor when old grow weary of its study.
For no one is too young or too far past his prime
to achieve the health of his soul.
The man who alleges that he is not yet ready for philosophy
or that the time for it has passed him by,
is like the man who says
that he is either too young or too old
for happiness.
Epicurus
Letter to Menoeceus, Fragment 122. Circa 300 BCE.
Quoted in The Essential Epicurus, translated by Eugene O'Connor
masquerading as its own cure.
L. Neil Smith
The Proability Broach, 1980
plan or no plan.
The question is: whose planning?
Should each member of society plan for himself
or should the paternal government alone plan for all? . . .
Laissez faire does not mean:
let souless mechanical forces operate.
It means: let individuals choose
how they want to cooperate in the social division of labor
and let them determine what the entrepreneurs should produce.
Planning means:
let the government alone choose and enforce its rulings
by the apparatus of coercion and compulsion.
Ludwig von Mises
Planning for Freedom, 1952
that rancorous, sardonic, wonderful insistence
on the right to dissent, to question, to object,
to raise holy hell and,
in direst extremity,
to laugh the self-appointed squad leaders
off the face of the earth with great whoops
of dirty, disdainful glee.
Suppress friction and a machine runs fine.
Suppress friction, and a society runs down.
John D. MacDonald
A Deadly Shade of Gold, 1965
You show considerable skill at making me feel
like a woman instead of an old lady."
"Let's say that I like ladies,
young and old,
with a dash of vinegar."
Robert H. Rimmer
The Rebellion of Yale Marratt, 1964
fuzzy thinking.
Richard J. Maybury
Whatever Happened to Penny Candy, 2000
on the theme of unarmed combat,
nothing is quite as effective
in discouraging the unfriendlies of the world
as a blue steel sidearm.
A.E. Maxwell
Just Another Day in Paradise, 1985
that as the government's revenues increase
so do its needs.
Frank Chodorov
The Income Tax: Root of All Evil, 1954
as not adequately supported by facts,
seem quite to forget
that their own theory is supported
by no facts at all.
Herbert Spencer
Essays Scientific, Political and Speculative, 1891
is more enlightening
than a week with anyone else I know,
except maybe James Madison or Patrick Henry.
Richard J. Maybury
Whatever Happened to Justice?, 1993
Contrariwise, the independence of the people
is in direct proportion to the amount
of their wealth they can enjoy.
We cannot restore traditional American freedom
unless we limit the government's power
to tax.
Frank Chodorov
The Income Tax: Root of All Evil, 1954
with enormous feet and a head like a bear.
His greeting was overwhelming,
like being mauled by a grizzly;
but I didn't mind.
I mean, it showed that he remembered me and, dammit,
love is where you find it.
There aren't that many humans around
eager to hug and kiss me.
Donald Hamilton
The Demolishers 1987
by advocating the amendment
of the multiplication table,
but many a seat in parliament
has been won on an implied promise--
equally fantastic--
to repeal the law of supply and demand.
Sir Ernest Benn
The State the Enemy, 1953
Italian for, "And yet it does move."
Attributed to Galileo Galilei
Parting remarks supposed to have been spoken under Galleleo's breath
after his public recantation of his heliocentric ideas,
upon his conviction by the Inquisition
for believing that the Earth was not the center of the Universe, 1633.
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
"The Red-Headed League," in
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, 1892
"You think civilization is some horrible, polluting human invention
that separates us from the state of nature.
But civilization doesn't separate us from nature, Ted.
Civilization protects us from nature."
Michael Crichton
State of Fear, 2004
"When the results don't agree with the theory,
believe the results
and come up with a new theory."
John Ross
Unintended Consequences, 1996
is the foundation of economic liberty.
The requirements of liberty in the economic realm
can be met in no other way.
The question at issue is how to distinguish
between what is mine and what is thine. . . .
There are three ways to handle this problem:
1. Each person may have whatever he can grab.
2. Some person other than the one who produces the goods and services
may decide who shall have the right of possession or use.
3. Each person may be allowed to have whatever he produces.
These three methods cover all the possibilities;
there are no others.
F.A."Squatty" Harper
Liberty: A Path to Its Recovery, 1949
a handful of social engineers,
backed by the industries that profit from compulsory schooling--
teacher colleges, textbook publishers, materials suppliers, and others--
has ensured that most of our children
will not have an education,
even though they may be thoroughly schooled.
John Taylor Gatto
Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling, 1992
have sometimes been represented by a great tree.
I believe this simile largely speaks the truth.
As buds give rise by growth to fresh buds,
and these, if vigorous,
branch out and overtop on all sides many a feebler branch,
so by generation I believe it has been
with the great Tree of Life,
which fills with its dead and broken branches
the crust of the earth,
and covers the surface
with its ever branching and beautiful ramifications.
Charles Darwin
On the Origin of Species, 1859
cannot be established
by bayonets.
Ludwig von Mises
Omnipotent Government: The Rise of the Total State and Total War,
you can neither bribe them
nor sweet-talk them.
Robert A. Heinlein
Friday, 1982
They kill off the good ones.
They gut their dreamers.
Their drab stone discipline is a celebration of mediocrity.
If we can restrain ourselves
from killing off our own rebels,
our doubters and dreamers,
all in the name of making ourselves strong,
then we can prevail.
But if we use their methods,
then any victory will be but victory
of one iron symbol over another,
and mankind will have lost the battle
whichever way it goes.
John D. MacDonald
A Deadly Shade of Gold, 1965
one is never alone.
They will talk to you when you want to listen,
and when you tire of what they are saying,
you just close the book.
It will be waiting for you
when you come back to it.
Louis L'Amour
The Cherokee Trail 1982
to anyone who wants it,
but you are compelled to surrender you school-age child to strangers
who process children for a livelihood . . . .
Your great-great grandmother didn't have to surrender her children.
What happened?
John Taylor Gatto
The Underground History of American Education: A Schoolteacher's Intimate Investigation into the Problem of Modern Schooling, 2000
that there may be realities so frightening,
or so discouraging and demoralizing,
that we would be better off not knowing anything about them.
In my judgment, however,
it is nearly always more advantageous
to face the facts with which we must deal
than to remain ignorant of them.
After all, hiding our eyes from reality
will not cause any reduction of its dangers and threats . . . ."
Harry G. Frankfurt
On Truth, 2006
that I will always understand what is going on--
a truism that I often find damnably annoying.
Robert A. Heinlein
Friday, 1982
is always going to be a victim, never a victor.
He loses perspective.
He can't act, except emotionally.
Robert H. Rimmer
The Premar Experiments, 1975
Every time it has burst out somewhere,
it has brought fire, famine, misery. . . .
And contempt for man.
Fervor is the weapon of choice for the impotent.
Frantz Fanon
Black Skins White Masks, 1988
Harleys and their owners
constitute the world's largest
and most active
mutual admiration society.
Paul Garson
Born to Be Wild: A History of the American Biker and Bikes, 1947 - 2002, 2003
that the claim of one renowned person who said:
"Only well-fed people can be free,"
could more accurately be stated in reverse:
"Only free people can be well-fed."
F.A. "Squatty" Harper
Liberty: A Path to Its Recovery, 1949
is fueled by what I call Darwin's Dictum,
defined by Darwin himself in his letter to Fawcett:
"all observation must be for or against some view
if it is to be of any service."
Michael Shermer
Why Darwin Matters, 2006
of defending your right
to differ with me.
I want to convince you that you are under no compulsion
to accept my creed; that you are,
so far as I am concerned,
absolutely free to follow
the torch of your reason according to your conscience;
and I believe that you are civilized
to that degree that you will extend to me
the right that you claim for yourselves.
Robert G. Ingersoll
"Free Speech and Honest Talk," 1888
One thing is fundamental;
if you give love instead of asking for it,
if you love openly,
defenselessly discarding forever the proposition,
"I'll love you if you'll love me,"
which most people live by,
then you will discover
a wonderful serenity in your life.
Robert H. Rimmer
The Harrad Experiment, 1966
are the death
of initiative.
Robert A. Heinlein
Sixth Column, 1949
John D. MacDonald
Nightmare in Pink, 1964
It's the only way we have
to lead more lives than one.
John D. MacDonald
Nightmare in Pink, 1964
to enjoy.
Wickedness
is hurting people
on purpose.
John D. MacDonald
Nightmare in Pink, 1964
Nor shead thy blood for an unhallowed cause.
John Quincy Adams
"Congress, Slavery, and an Unjust War," 1847
is the day in which we have encountered
a mind
that startled us.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Essays: Second Series, 1844
and wicked things
are done
from habit.
Terence
Heauton Timoroumenos, circa 150 BC
the one-eyed man
is king.
Desiderius Erasmus
Adagia, 1500
because it is useful.
Henri Frederic Amiel
Amiel's Journal, November 15, 1876
though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble,
there's no place like home.
John Howard Payne
"Home Sweet Home," from Clari, the Maid of Milan, 1823
around the neck of a slave,
the other end fastens itself
around your own.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Essays: First Series, 1841
than that the office
sanctifies the holder of it.
Lord Acton
Letter to Mandell Creighton, April 3, 1887
than that one innocent suffer.
Sir William Blackstone
Commentaries on the Laws of England, 1765
is the only sorrow
from which we refuse
to be divorced.
Washington Irving
"Rural Funerals," from, The Sketch-Book, 1819-1820
the rights of man.
Jean Giraudoux
Tiger at the Gates, 1935
for expedients,
and by parts.
Edmund Burke
Letter to Sherriffs of Bristol, April 3, 1777
of the most stringent censorships
that they give credibility
to the opinions they attack.
Voltaire
Preface to "Poeme sur le desastre de Lisbonne," 1758
that aims and purposes are one thing,
while methods and tactics are another.
Emma Goldman
My Disillusionment in Russia, 1923
when we are eager to speak.
La Rochefoucauld
Maxims, 1665
of larceny, murder, rapine, and barbarism.
We are always moving forward with high mission,
a destiny imposed by the Deity to regenerate our victims
while incidentally capturing their markets,
to civilize savage and senile and paranoid peoples
while blundering accidentally
into their oil wells and metal mines.
John T. Flynn
As We Go Marching, 1944
just as a rose-tree bears roses
and an apple-tree bears apples.
Antoine Fabre d'Olivet
L'Histoire philosophique du genre humain, 1824
to hold a high hand
over the education of the people.
They know, better than anyone else,
that their power is based almost entirely
on the school.
Hence, they monopolize it more and more.
Francisco Ferrer
has dated a new era in his life
from the reading of a book.
Henry David Thoreau
Walden, "Reading," 1854
or you shall have power,
said God;
you shall not have both.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Journals, October, 1842
not so much by great pieces of good fortune
that seldom happen,
as by little advantages
that occur every day.
Benjamin Franklin
Autobiography, 1731
war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded
because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.
War is the parent of armies; from these proceed debts and taxes.
And armies, and debts, and taxes
are the known instruments
for bringing the many under the domination of the few.
James Madison
Letters and Other Writings of James Madison, Volume IV, page 491, "Political Obseervations," April 20, 1795
gives it a superficial appearance of being right,
and raises at first
a formidable outcry in defense of custom.
Thomas Paine
Common Sense, 1776
Only a free man can possibly be moral.
Unless a good deed is voluntary,
it has no moral significance.
Everett Dean Martin
Liberty, 1930
to own he has been in the wrong,
which is but saying
that he is wiser today than he was yesterday.
Alexander Pope
Thoughts on Various Subjects, 1706
war has actually encouraged and built up the development of dictatorships
and has only restored liberty in limited areas at the cost of untold hardship,
of human suffering, of death and destruction
beyond the conception of our fathers.
Robert A. Taft
A Foreign Policy for Americans, 1951
produceth thunder and ruin.
Thomas Fuller
Gnomologia, 1732
but every individual begins afresh.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832)
Maxims and Reflections, collection.
we had wisdom.
Stephen Vincent Benet
Litany for Dictatorships, 1935
to find that the good
can be clever.
Marquis de Vauvenargues
Reflexions et maximes, 1746
worships uniformity;
uniformity relieves it from inquiry
into an infinity of details,
which must be attended to
if rules have to be adapted to different men,
instead of indiscriminately subjecting all men
to the same rule.
Alexis de Tocqueville
Democracy in America, 1835
that praise is sincere:
why should anyone lie
in telling us the truth?
Jean Rostand
De la Vanite, 1925
and how do wars start?
Diplomats tell lies to journalists
and then believe what they read.
Karl Kraus
Aphorisms and More Aphorisms, 1909
men deprived of the company of women
become stupid.
Anton Chekhov
Notebooks, 1892-1904
beyond its power.
Publilius Syrus
Sententiae, circa 1st century, BC
why arms should be denied to any man
who is not a slave,
since they are the only
true badges of liberty.
Andrew Fletcher
A Discourse of Government with Relation to Militias, 1737
to praise discipline,
and another to submit to it.
Miguel de Cervantes
The Dialogue of the Dogs, 1613
of low company.
Edmund Burke
Speech on the Economical Reform, 1780
comes over a man,
nothing can cure it
but the scratching of a pen.
Samuel Lover
Handy Andy, 1842
and, owing to this,
what is called crime is very often not a crime at all,
for it contains no element of violence or harm.
P.D. Ouspensky
A New Model of the Universe, 1931
is to remember what is past.
George Savile
Miscellaneous,
it becomes absolute,
and when it has become absolute it destroys
the arts, the minds, the liberties and the meaning
of the people it governs.
Maxwell Anderson
The Guaranteed Life, 1938
who undergo the fatigue
of judging for themselves
is very small indeed.
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
The Critic, 1799
it appears that the state is only a group of men
with human interests, passions and desires
or worse yet . . .
an obscure clerk hidden in some corner
of a government bureau.
In either case
the assumption of superhuman wisdom and virtue
is proved false.
William Graham Sumner
Commercial Crises, 1879
in natural knowledge
has involved the absolute rejection
of authority.
T.H. Huxley
Lay Sermons, 1870
is always the same:
to limit the individual,
to tame him, to subordinate him, to subjugate him.
Max Stirner
The Ego and His Own, 1845
as changlessness.
Graham Greene
The Heart of the Matter, 1948
of most governments.
John Adams
Thoughts on Government, 1776
is the love
of the drudgery
it involves.
Logan Pearsall Smith
Afterthoughts, 1931
where there is no safety to property or personal rights.
Whenever legislation . . . breaks in upon personal liberty
or compels a surrender of personal privileges,
upon any pretext, plausible or otherwise,
it matters little whether it be
the act of the many or the few,
of the solitary despot
or the assembled multitude;
it is still in its essence
tyranny.
Joseph Story
A Discourse Pronounced Upon the Inauguration of the Author as Dane Professor of Law in Harvard University on the Twenty-Fifth Day of August, 1829, 1829.
by the heat of its defenders
than from the arguments
of its opponents.
William Penn
Some Fruits of Solitude, 1693.
it is essential that the whole body of the people
always possess arms,
and be taught alike,
especially when young,
how to use them. . . ."
Richard Henry Lee
Letters from the Federalist Farmer, 1787
must consider
what hath been.
H.G. Bohn
Handbook of Proverbs, 1855
the whole year round,
there ain't no flies on me,
But jest 'fore Christmas
I'm as good as I kin be!
Eugene Field
"Jest 'fore Christmas," in Love-Songs of Childhood, 1894