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2016 January 15
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"Men in authority will always think that
criticism of their policies is dangerous.
They will always equate their policies with
patriotism, and find criticism subversive." |
"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed
(and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an
endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." |
"Perhaps it is a universal truth that the loss of liberty at home
is to be charged to the provisions against danger,
real or pretended, from abroad." |
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2016 January 14
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"For you see, the world is governed by very different personages
from what is imagined by those who are not behind the scenes." |
"The more we do to you, the less you seem to believe we are doing it." |
"Any formal attack on ignorance is bound to fail because the masses are always ready to defend their most precious possession -- their ignorance. |
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2016 January 13
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"If we cannot learn, if the only effect upon us of the presence of the dynamiter in our midst is to make us multiply punishments, invent restrictions, increase the number of our official spies, forbid public meetings, interfere with the press, put up gratings -- as in one country they propose to do -- in our House of Commons, scrutinize visitors under official microscopes, request them, as at Vienna, and I think now at Paris also, to be good enough to leave their greatcoats in the vestibules ... I venture to prophesy that there lies before us a bitter and an evil time." |
"Times of tragedy and war naturally bring out strong emotions... Sometimes people are only too anxious to sacrifice their constitutional liberties during a crisis, hoping to gain some measure of security. Yet nothing would please terrorists more than if we willingly gave up our cherished liberties because of their actions." |
"Security is mostly a superstition.
It does not exist in nature,
nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.
Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure.
Life is either a daring adventure, or nothing." |
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2016 January 12
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"To oppose corruption in government
is the highest obligation of patriotism." |
"Government is like fire.
If it is kept within bounds and
under the control of the people,
it contributes to the welfare of all.
But if it gets out of place,
if it gets too big and out of control,
it destroys the happiness
and even the lives of the people." |
"...The Bill of Rights is a literal and absolute document.
The First Amendment doesn't say you have a right to speak out unless
the government has a 'compelling interest' in censoring the Internet.
The Second Amendment doesn't say you have the right to
keep and bear arms until some madman plants a bomb.
The Fourth Amendment doesn't say you have the right to be secure from
search and seizure unless some FBI agent thinks you fit the profile
of a terrorist. The government has no right to interfere with any
of these freedoms under any circumstances." |
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2016 January 11
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"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good
of its victim may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live
under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies.
The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may
at some point be satiated, but those who torment us for our own good
will torment us without end for they do so with the approval
of their own conscience." |
"The inherent right in the people
to reform their government,
I do not deny;
and they have another right,
and that is to resist unconstitutional laws
without overturning the government." |
"If you want a Big Brother,
you get all that comes with it." |
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