Rousseau had it backwards. We are NOT born free. We are born in the chains of the random and the reflexive, and are ignorant and unreasonable by simple nature. We must learn to be free, to organize the random and detect the reflexive, to acquire the knowledge of particulars and the powers of reason. The examined life is impossible if we cannot examine, order, classify, define, distinguish, always in minute particulars.
You May Also Like / View all maxioms
I have discovered the art of deceiving diplomats. I speak the truth, and they never believe me.
I have discovered the art of deceiving diplomats. I speak the truth, and they never believe me.
The office of president is a bastardized thing, half royalty and half democracy, that nobody knows whether to genuflect or read more
The office of president is a bastardized thing, half royalty and half democracy, that nobody knows whether to genuflect or spit.
We treat our people like royalty. If you honor and serve the people who work for you, they will honor read more
We treat our people like royalty. If you honor and serve the people who work for you, they will honor and serve you.
To desire the attainment of this equality or superiority by the particular means of others being brought down to our read more
To desire the attainment of this equality or superiority by the particular means of others being brought down to our own level, or below it, is, I think, the distinct notion of envy.
...Although the political liberty of this country is greater than that of nearly every other civilized nation, its personal liberty read more
...Although the political liberty of this country is greater than that of nearly every other civilized nation, its personal liberty is said to be less. In other words, men are thought to be more under the control of extra-legal authorities, and to defer more to those around them, in pursuing even their lawful and innocent occupations, than in almost every other country.
Nobody is equal to anybody. Even the same man is not equal to himself on different days.
Nobody is equal to anybody. Even the same man is not equal to himself on different days.
Against nature and within nature there is no freedom.
Against nature and within nature there is no freedom.
All government, in its essence, is organized exploitation, and in virtually all of its existing forms it is the implacable read more
All government, in its essence, is organized exploitation, and in virtually all of its existing forms it is the implacable enemy of every industrious and well-disposed man.
...democracy can be interpreted to assert not only equality before the law but also essentialistic identity in all respects. This read more
...democracy can be interpreted to assert not only equality before the law but also essentialistic identity in all respects. This is expressed in the claim, "All men are created equal," which is something very different from the statement, "All men have equal rights and are equal before the law." Anyone who believes in the genetic uniqueness of every individual thereby believes in the conclusion, "No two individuals are created equal.".
