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.
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What kind of world is this that can send machines to Mars and does nothing to stop the killing of read more
What kind of world is this that can send machines to Mars and does nothing to stop the killing of a human being?
If the French were really intelligent, they'd speak English.
If the French were really intelligent, they'd speak English.
The conception that government should be guided by majority opinion makes sense only if that opinion is independent of government. read more
The conception that government should be guided by majority opinion makes sense only if that opinion is independent of government. The ideal of democracy rests on the belief that the view which will direct government emerges from an independent and spontaneous process. It requires, therefore, the existence of a large sphere independent of majority control in which the opinions of the individuals are formed.
Given that some social processes must convey inherent constraints, the choice is among various mixtures of persuasion, force, and cultural read more
Given that some social processes must convey inherent constraints, the choice is among various mixtures of persuasion, force, and cultural inducement. The less of one, the more of the others. The degree of freedom that is possible is therefore tied to the extent to which people respond to persuasion or inducement.
I think most historians will agree that the part played by impulses of selfish, individual aggression in the holocausts of read more
I think most historians will agree that the part played by impulses of selfish, individual aggression in the holocausts of history was small; first and foremost, the slaughter was meant as an offering to the gods, to king and country, or the future happiness of mankind. The crimes of Caligula shrink to insignificance compared to the havoc wrought by Torquemada. The number of victims of robbers, highwaymen, rapists, gangsters and other criminals at any period of history is negligible compared to the massive numbers of those cheerfully slain in the name of the true religion, just policy, or correct ideology.
You shall judge a man by his foes as well as by his friends.
You shall judge a man by his foes as well as by his friends.
The war for liberty never ends. One day liberty has to be defended against the power of wealth, on another read more
The war for liberty never ends. One day liberty has to be defended against the power of wealth, on another day against the intrigues of politicians, on another against the dead hand of bureaucrats, on another against the patrioter and the militarist, on another against the profiteer, and then against the hysteria and the passions of the mobs, against obscurantism and stupidity, against the criminal and against the overrighteous. In this campaign every civilized man is enlisted till he dies, and he only has known the full joy of living who somewhere and at some time has struck a decisive blow for the freedom of the human spirit.
Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all!By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall. - "The Liberty Song".
Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all!By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall. - "The Liberty Song".
I think there is one higher office than president and I would call that patriot.
I think there is one higher office than president and I would call that patriot.
