The inner censor of the mind of the true believer completes the work of the public censor; his self-discipline is as tyrannical as the obedience imposed by the regime; he terrorizes his own conscience into submission; he carries his private Iron Curtain inside his skull, to protect his illusions against the intrusion of reality.
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...it may fairly be doubted if any political tyranny ever imposed on its people such a fear, such a longing read more
...it may fairly be doubted if any political tyranny ever imposed on its people such a fear, such a longing for freedom, such a paralysis of the spirit, as disease. I doubt if the average Englishman felt himself as much oppressed by Charles I as by the plague; or if any colonial American was as much in dread of taxation without representation as of smallpox. And it may reasonably be contended that Walter Reed and William Crawford Gorgas brought to man freedom in a more happy sense and in a larger measure than any military or political leader.
In every tyrant's heart there springs in the end this poison, that he cannot trust a friend.
In every tyrant's heart there springs in the end this poison, that he cannot trust a friend.
I should have had a circuitous answer that was a non-answer.
I should have had a circuitous answer that was a non-answer.
They want the federal government controlling Social Security like it's some kind of federal program.
They want the federal government controlling Social Security like it's some kind of federal program.
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."N. B.: This read more
I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it."N. B.: This quote is commonly attributed to Voltaire, but it is not found in his writing. - The Friends of Voltaire.
The celebration of unbounded individualism means, beyond some point, the acceptance of force- either private (crime, riot, vigilanteism) or public read more
The celebration of unbounded individualism means, beyond some point, the acceptance of force- either private (crime, riot, vigilanteism) or public (authoritarianism).
...when we renounce the self and become part of a compact whole, we not only renounce personal advantage but are read more
...when we renounce the self and become part of a compact whole, we not only renounce personal advantage but are also rid of personal responsibility. There is no telling to what extremes of cruelty and ruthlessness a man will go when he is freed from the fears, hesitations, doubts and the vague stirrings of decency that go with individual judgement. When we lose our individual independence in the corporateness of a mass movement, we find a new freedom- freedom to hate, bully, lie, torture, murder and betray without shame and remorse. Herein undoubtedly lies part of the attractiveness of a mass movement.
The world will never have lasting peace so long as men reserve for war the finest human qualities. Peace, no read more
The world will never have lasting peace so long as men reserve for war the finest human qualities. Peace, no less than war, requires idealism and self-sacrifice and a righteous and dynamic faith.
Whenever men take the law into their own hands, the loser is the law. And when the law loses, freedom read more
Whenever men take the law into their own hands, the loser is the law. And when the law loses, freedom languishes.
