One of the most important reasons for studying history is that virtually every stupid idea that is in vogue today has been tried before and proved disastrous before, time and again. [The more you study the past, the further you can see the future.] Thomas Sowell
That which you most need will be found where you least want to look. Carl Jung (paraphrase)
If working hard made you rich, donkeys would be covered in gold. French proverb
Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster… for when you gaze long into the abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. Friedrich W. Nietzsche
Sex was an expression of friendship: in Africa it was like holding hands… It was friendly and fun. There was no coercion. It was offered willingly. Paul Theroux
Evil preaches tolerance until it is dominant, then it tries to silence good. Archbishop Charles J. Chaput
Anarchism is not a romantic fable but he hardheaded realization, based on five thousand years of experience, that we cannot entrust the management of our lives to kings, priests, politicians, generals, and county commissioners. Edward Abbey
The masses have never thirsted after truth. They turn aside from evidence that is not to their taste, preferring to deify error, if error seduce them. Whoever can supply them with illusions is easily their master; whoever attempts to destroy their illusions is always their victim. Gustave Le Bon
If you don’t read the newspaper, you’re uninformed. If you read the newspaper, you’re misinformed. Mark Twain
The idea that the State originated to serve any kind of social purpose is completely unhistorical. It originated in conquest and confiscation — that is to say, in crime. It originated for the purpose of maintaining the division of society into an owning-and-exploiting class and a propertyless dependent class — that is, for a criminal purpose. Albert J. Nock
A man is no less a slave because he is allowed to choose a new master once in a term of years. Lysander Spooner
The State is, and always has been, the great single enemy of the human race, its liberty, happiness, and progress. Murray Rothbard
The ‘net interprets censorship as damage and routes around it. John Gilmore (EFF founder)
A good artist should be isolated. If he isn’t isolated something is wrong. Orson Welles
I think the person who takes a job in order to live — that is to say, for the money — has turned himself into a slave. Joseph Campbell
It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. Frederick Douglas
We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. T. S. Eliot
The most dangerous man to any government is the man who is able to think things out for himself, without regard to the prevailing superstitions and taboos. Almost inevitably he comes to the conclusion that the government he lives under is dishonest, insane and intolerable, and so, if he is romantic, he tries to change it. And if he is not romantic personally, he is very apt to spread discontent among those who are. H.L. Mencken
Without leaving your home, you can understand the whole world. Without looking out the window, you can see the way of heaven. The further away you go, the less you understand yourself. That is why the wise man understands himself without traveling. He sees without looking. He accomplishes everything without doing anything. Lao Tse
The choice for mankind lies between freedom and happiness and for the great bulk of mankind, happiness is better. George Orwell, 1984