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.
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That government is best which governs least.
That government is best which governs least.
Discontent does not invariably create a desire for change. Other factors have to be present before discontent turns into disaffection. read more
Discontent does not invariably create a desire for change. Other factors have to be present before discontent turns into disaffection. One of these is a sense of power.
Illegitimacy is something we should talk about in terms of not having it.
Illegitimacy is something we should talk about in terms of not having it.
Politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed.
Politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed.
It is precisely those things which belong to "the people" which have historically been despoiled- wild creatures, the air, and read more
It is precisely those things which belong to "the people" which have historically been despoiled- wild creatures, the air, and waterways being notable examples. This goes to the heart of why property rights are socially important in the first place. Property rights mean self-interested monitors. No owned creatures are in danger of extinction. No owned forests are in danger of being leveled. No one kills the goose that lays the golden egg when it is his goose.
Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to read more
Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule--and both commonly succeed, and are right.
There is perhaps no better way of measuring the natural endowment of a soul than by its ability to transmute read more
There is perhaps no better way of measuring the natural endowment of a soul than by its ability to transmute dissatisfaction into a creative impulse. The genuine artist is as much a dissatisfied person as the revolutionary, yet how diametrically opposed are the products each distills from his dissatisfaction.
Good leaders make people feel that they're at the very heart of things, not at the periphery. Everyone feels that read more
Good leaders make people feel that they're at the very heart of things, not at the periphery. Everyone feels that he or she makes a difference to the success of the organization. When that happens people feel centered and that gives their work meaning.
It is much safer to obey, than to govern.
It is much safer to obey, than to govern.
