Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quoteShare via Email Print this Page Daily Quotes Archives2015-12-07 Dec 7, 2015False is the idea of utility that sacrifices a thousand real advantages for one imaginary or trifling inconvenience; that would take fire from men because it burns, and water because one may drown in it; that has no remedy for evils except destruction. The laws that forbid the carrying of arms are laws of such a nature. They disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Can it be supposed that those who have the courage to violate the most sacred laws of humanity, the most important of the code, will respect the less important and arbitrary ones, which can be violated with ease and impunity, and which, if strictly obeyed, would put an end to personal liberty... and subject innocent persons to all the vexations that the guilty alone ought to suffer? Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than to prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed man. They ought to be designated as laws not preventive but fearful of crimes, produced by the tumultuous impression of a few isolated facts, and not by thoughtful consideration of the inconveniences and advantages of a universal decree.~ Cesare Beccaria Dec 4, 201519 terrorists in 6 weeks have been able to command 300 million North Americans to do away with the entirety of their civil liberties that took 700 years to advance from the Magna Carta onward. The terrorists have already won the political and ideological war with one terrorist act. It is mindboggling that we are that weak as a society.~ Rocco GalatiConstitutional rights may not be infringed simply because the majority of the people choose that they be.~ Supreme Court of the United States Dec 3, 2015Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.~ Ambrose BierceGet all the fools on your side and you can be elected to anything.~ Frank DanePolitical tags -- such as royalist, communist, democrat, populist, fascist, liberal, conservative, and so forth -- are never basic criteria. The human race divides politically into those who want people to be controlled and those who have no such desire.~ Robert A. Heinlein Dec 2, 2015Spiritual movements are revolts of thought against inertia, of the few against the many; of those who because they are strong in spirit are strongest alone against those who can express themselves only in the mass and the mob, and who are significant only because they are numerous.~ Ludwig von MisesThe principle that the majority have a right to rule the minority, practically resolves all government into a mere contest between two bodies of men, as to which of them shall be masters, and which of them slaves; a contest, that -- however bloody -- can, in the nature of things, never be finally closed, so long as man refuses to be a slave.~ Lysander SpoonerIn matters of conscience, the law of majority has no place.~ Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi Dec 1, 2015Democracy arose from men thinking that if they are equal in any respect they are equal in all respects.~ AristotleYour representative owes you, not his industry only, but his judgment; and he betrays, instead of serving you, if he sacrifices it to your opinion.~ Edmund BurkeTyranny seldom announces itself. ...In fact, a tyranny may exist without an individual tyrant. A whole government, even a democratically elected one, may be tyrannical.~ Joseph Sobran Previous week's quotes Next week's quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print