"Why passports? Why immigration restriction? Why not let human beings go where they wish to go, North Pole or South Pole, Russia or Turkey, the States or Bolivia? Human beings must be kept under control. They cannot fly like insects about the world into which they were born without being asked. Human beings must be brought under control, under passports, under finger-print registrations. For what reason? Only to show the omnipotence of the state, and of the holy servant of the state, the bureaucrat. Bureaucracy has come to stay. It has become the great and almighty ruler of the world. It has come to stay to whip human beings into discipline and make them numbers within the state. With foot-printings of babies it has begun; the next stage will be the branding of registration numbers upon the back, properly filed, so that no mistake can be made as to the true nationality of the insect. A wall has made China what she is today. The walls all nations have built up since the war for democracy will have the same effect. Expanding markets and making large profits are a religion. It is the oldest religion perhaps, for it has the best-trained priests, and it has the most beautiful churches; yes, sir."
React to this quote
More by B. Traven
See allResonant Thoughts
"Where such a separation is complete one group of individuals, the security holders and in particular the stockholders, performs the function of risk-takers and suppliers of capital, while a separate g…"
"The Bill ... does manifest some of the major consequences. It shows first that it is an inherent consequence of accession to the Treaty of Rome that this House and Parliament will lose their legislati…"
Explore Further
Related Quotes
"Wise men speak because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
— Plato""I've understood some essentials about good communication and branding and have taken some of those concept…"
— Mark Kaigwa"Politics, as the word is commonly understood, are nothing but corruptions, and consequently of no use to a …"
— Jonathan Swift"Actually, there are never motives behind actions. All actions are fixed. What we call motives evidently are…"
— James Blish"The doll? Who decided that the young should rehearse the physical care of infants, so that they know them a…"
— Samuel R. Delany"But let there be no misunderstanding: it is not that a real man, the object of knowledge, philosophical ref…"
— Michel Foucault
Related Thinkers
Related Topics
Deep Dives
- Stephen King on philosophy
- Robert A. Heinlein on philosophy
- Ernest Hemingway on philosophy
- Mark Twain on philosophy
- George Bernard Shaw on philosophy
- Virginia Woolf on Philosophy
- Anton Chekhov on philosophy
- Ursula K. Le Guin on philosophy
- Stephen King on life
- Stephen King on time
- knowledge & Beauty
- knowledge & Change