Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quoteShare via Email Print this Page Daily Quotes Archives2021-02-09 Feb 9, 2021Goodness without wisdom always accomplished evil.~ Robert A. HeinleinNone of the modes by which a magistrate is appointed, popular election, the accident of the lot, or the accident of birth, affords, as far as we can perceive, much security for his being wiser than any of his neighbours. The chance of his being wiser than all his neighbours together is still smaller.~ Thomas Babington MacaulayIs uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites.~ Thomas Jefferson Feb 8, 2021Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.~ Peter DruckerAlways remember the difference between economic power and political power: You can refuse to hire someone's services or buy his products in the private sector and go somewhere else instead. In the public sector, though, if you refuse to accept a politician's or bureaucrat's product or services you go to jail. Ultimately, after all, all regulations are observed and all taxes are paid at gunpoint. I believe those few who can't even see that have been short-sighted sheep, and I suggest they learn how to think conceptually, develop consistency and grasp principles soon.~ Rick GaberHe is free who knows how to keep in his own hands the power to decide at each step, the course of his life, and who lives in a society which does not block the exercise of that power.~ Salvador De Madariaga Feb 5, 2021Laws do not persuade just because they threaten.~ Lucius Annaeus SenecaKnowledge is power.~ Sir Francis BaconLet us consider the effect that coercion produces upon the mind of him against whom it is employed. It cannot begin with convincing; it is no argument. It begins with producing the sensation of pain, and the sentiment of distaste. It begins with violently alienating the mind from the truth with which we wish it to be impressed. It includes in it a tacit confession of imbecility. If he who employs coercion against me could mould me to his purposes by argument, no doubt he would. He pretends to punish me because his argument is important, but he really punishes me because his argument is weak. ~ William Godwin Feb 4, 2021English character and English freedom depend comparatively little on the form which the Constitution assumes at Westminster. A centralised democracy may be as tyrannical as an absolute monarch; and if the vigour of the nation is to continue unimpaired, each individual, each family, each district, must preserve as far as possible its independence, its self-completeness, its powers and its privilege to manage its own affairs and think its own thoughts.~ James Anthony FroudeThose in power need checks and restraints lest they come to identify the common good for their own tastes and desires, and their continuation in office as essential to the preservation of the nation.~ Justice William O. DouglasA race of altruists is necessarily a race of slaves. A race of free men is necessarily a race of egoists.~ Max Stirner Feb 3, 2021A man's admiration for absolute government is proportionate to the contempt he feels for those around him.~ Alexis de TocquevilleAuthority without wisdom is like a heavy axe without an edge, fitter to bruise than polish.~ Anne BradstreetThe possession of power over others is inherently destructive both to the possessor of the power and to those over whom it is exercised.~ George D. Herron Previous week's quotes Next week's quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print