Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Comment on this quoteShare via Email Print this Page Daily Quotes Archives2023-07-17 Jul 17, 2023There is a great deal of self-will in the world, but very little genuine independence of character.~ Frederick W. FaberIt used to be the boast of free men that, so long as they kept within the bounds of the known law, there was no need to ask anybody's permission or to obey anybody's orders. It is doubtful whether any of us can make this claim today.~ Friedrich August von HayekThe majority is never right. Never, I tell you! That's one of these lies in society that no free and intelligent man can ever help rebelling against. Who are the people that make up the biggest proportion of the population -- the intelligent ones or the fools? I think we can agree it's the fools, no matter where you go in this world, it's the fools that form the overwhelming majority.~ Henrik Ibsen Jul 14, 2023Liberty is the hardest test that one can inflict on a people. To know how to be free is not given equally to all men and all nations.~ Paul ValéryIt has been thought a considerable advance towards establishing the principles of Freedom, to say, that government is a compact between those who govern and those that are governed: but this cannot be true, because it is putting the effect before the cause; for as man must have existed before governments existed, there necessarily was a time when governments did not exist, and consequently there could originally exist no governors to form such a compact with. The fact therefore must be, that the individuals themselves, each in his own personal and sovereign right, entered into a compact with each other to produce a government: and this is the only mode in which governments have a right to arise, and the only principle on which they have a right to exist.~ Thomas PaineFreedom of thought is the only guarantee against an infection of people by mass myths, which, in the hands of treacherous hypocrites and demagogues, can be transformed into bloody dictatorships.~ Andrei Sakharov Jul 13, 2023Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign.~ John Stuart MillThe poorest man may in his cottage, bid defiance to all the forces of the Crown. It may be frail, its roof may shake; the wind may blow through it; the storm may enter; the rain may enter; but the King of England may not enter; all his force dares not cross the threshold of the ruined tenement.~ William PittThere is only one success: to be able to spend your life in your own way, and not to give others absurd maddening claims upon it.~ Christopher Darlington Morley Jul 12, 2023I am beginning to realize that "sanity" is no longer a value or an end in itself. If modern people were a little less sane, a little more doubtful, a little more aware of their absurdities and contradictions, perhaps there might be the possibility of their survival.~ Thomas MertonTo act without clear understanding, to form habits without investigation, to follow a path all one's life without knowing where it really leads -- such is the behavior of the multitude.~ MenciusI will not surrender responsibility for my life and my actions.~ John Enoch Powell Jul 11, 2023Unrestrained political authority, though it be confided to masses, cannot be trusted without positive limitations, men in bodies being but an aggregation of the passions, weaknesses and interests of men as individuals.~ James Fenimore CooperIf there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein.~ Justice Robert H. JacksonGovernment power must be dispersed. If government is to exercise power, better in the county than in the state, better in the state than in Washington. If I do not like what my local community does, be it in sewage disposal, or zoning, or schools, I can move to another local community, and though few may take this step, the mere possibility acts as a check. If I do not like what Washington imposes, I have few alternatives in this world of jealous nations.~ Milton Friedman Previous week's quotes Next week's quotes Share on Facebook Tweet Email Print