"So much of political philosophy throughout history has consisted of concocting reasons why people have a duty to be tame animals in politicians’ cages."

James Bovard Literature See all quotes by James Bovard →

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“The worse government fails, the less privacy citizens supposedly deserve.”

“Trusting government nowadays means dividing humanity into two classes: those who can be trusted with power to run other people’s lives, and those who cannot even be trusted to run their own lives.”

“A lie that is accepted by a sufficient number of ignorant voters becomes a political truth.”

“People have been taught to expect far more from government than from freedom.”

“We need a constitutional amendment to make the federal government obey the Constitution.”

“The Patriot Act treats every citizen like a suspected terrorist and every federal agent like a proven angel.”

Resonant Thoughts

"If people got hit on the head by a baseball bat every week, pretty soon they would invent reasons why getting hit on the head with a baseball bat was a good thing."

— Eliezer Yudkowsky

Literature1979

#philosophy

"Although Karl Marx… confided that he derived many of his philosophical ideas from the French utopian socialist movement, he also knew that he was adopting an ideological movement rife with xenophobia.…"

— L. K. Samuels

Economics

#philosophy

"In Erlangen, for instance, in January 1946 he spoke of meeting a German Jew who had lost everything — parents, brothers, and sisters too. 'I could not help myself', said Niemöller, 'I had to tell him,…"

— Martin Niemöller

Religion1892–1984

#knowledge

"He knew her too well to see her from the distance that pity requires. He loved her because he admired her. For bearing without complaint the burden the queen put on her. For still being gentle and lov…"

— Orson Scott Card

Literature1951–2003

#philosophy