Wise words, that I always took in my heart. So sad that so many today explicit try to deny this, using well intended causes as excuses to silence debates or even the truth itself.

Waffler, many, many societies and civilizations in the past had collapsed. Some to the point of complete wipe out or near that. Going from populations of hundreds of thousands to only few hundreds is clearly collapse. Try reading about what you say before repeating mindless mantras of wishful thinking. I suggest "Collapse", from Jared Diamond, on this topic.

Sadly, today reason itself has been openly attacked by ideologues. Which shows that those ideologues must be defending some pretty horrible ideas themselves, or else reason would not be an enemy.

Wow... how can you thumb down on that?

Some comments here are baffling. How is it that someone can compare deaths in wars (that, even if completely unnecessary and unjust, still are conflicts of a nation against another, and in modern wars most of the casualties are military), to the killing, by a GOVERNMENT, of ITS OWN CITIZENS, and that in the name of an ideology and its prejudices????

The Doctor. Being Awesome. Sadly, in the last season we've seen this a little less.Just hope the show keeps its integrity, which seems to be fading away.

that quote is from Hobbes, I wager you know that. Might you also know that Hobbes never saw any human in that condition, but only theorized about the past, without much in which to base itself on? His time was the renascence, he was just extrapolating the horrors of the middle ages (in his eyes) to what all the past before his "glorious" state would be. Never met a tribe, never did one archeological study. Since we as a civilization latter have done those, we have learned that his visions were REALLY off the mark.

why would people living natural lives need to labor in COAL mines? Do you those are working for civilization, right?
God whats happening with these posts today. Think a little before writing.

Do you ever thought that it actually takes some money today to be able to do that choice? To have a cabin in "the woods"? You know you can't get land any more for free, right? Or maybe you just prefer to ignore this?

I teach at a public school in Brazil and this quote is on point. All the other teachers there (unless they are smartly hiding their true thoughts from the other teachers in fear of attacks) cannot even fathom any form of critic to governments in themselves. All their solutions are always through government and bureaucracy, all their problems are from a lack of those. Any anarchical thought is taken as the farthest right-wing possible. And yet, the school we all work on is another true example on how public schools are failing. nice that, at least, they are also failing in teaching such love for government (together with linguistics and math).

How is this that from a quote criticizing the public school system you immediately jump to "crazy folks teaching children at home"?
Since you attended gov schools, I think this proves the above quote, no? While also showing they've taught you poorly in logic and interpreting nuanced topics.

Most interesting is to see the deepness of the arguments of those contrary to the quote on top.
Incredible how fast some people get to use the "hate" card.

Sorry, but if someone, by their own actions, has shown that they do not value the life of others, why should we value their life?
If someone has become a danger to innocent around them, and is gone "too far", how is it that keeping them around will "save lives"? Often people go really far into moral-and-mind-bending-rabbit-holes, only trying to deny even the most clear truths: that some people have chosen (or created, doesn't matter the source) to not be people any more, to consider themselves superior, in right to inflict harm at will.
Prison sometimes can help the society, but many times it doesn't. And imprisonment for life is to me no better than capital punishment. Why should a rapist or a serial killer have the right to elicit so much trouble and expenses (prisons, guards, food, shelter), when they would never treat other the same way?

Awesome quote. Perfectly on point.
And important nowadays, since the left in most coutries has now been reduced to only repeat the most extremist leftist ideas, and the communication between sides have been cut. And those extremists... well, we all know they are totalitarian not only in nature, but in speech.

I was in doubt of what the quote meant, and after reading Patrick's possible alternate translation, I'm even more lost. As warren pointed out, this one did not survived the test of time, we lost its meaning (completelly? maybe more info is available, but not here it seems)

Gandhi probably never bothered entering the pandemonium of a low-class public scholl classroom.
Sorry but no, the most vile human beings I came accross in my life were those rugrats I try to teach everyday, to no success at all. Honour? Sorry, no.

I normally like him. Sadly, he is not being as bias-free as he thinks he is. Which is okay, I have no quarrel with there being right-wing or libertarian schools/thinkers.
He could just drop the Climate denialism. It's plain ridiculous and shows that he doesn't understand much of science and just picks the opinions that pleases him more.

As always, Thoreau is right to the point. Sad some people don't see it.