Category: Thought

[T]here is a proverbial maxim which bears witness to the advantage sometimes possessed by an observant bystander over those actually engaged in any transaction. “The looker-​on often sees more of the game than the players.” Now the looker-​on is precisely (in Greek) ὁ ἄνθρωπος φύσει πολιτικὸν ζῷον the theorist.

When then you find any one contrasting, in this and in other subjects, what he calls experience, with theory, you will usually perceive on attentive examination, that he is in reality comparing the results of a confined, with that of a wider, experience; — a more imperfect and crude theory, with one more cautiously framed, and based on a more copious induction.

Richard Whately, Introductory Lectures on Political Economy (1832), Lecture III.

The property right in one’s own body must be said to be justified a priori, for anyone who would try to justify any norm whatsoever would already have to presuppose the exclusive right to control over his body as a valid norm simply in order to say “I propose such in such.”

Hans-​Hermann Hoppe, The Economics and Ethics of Private Property (1993).

“You look as if you’ve just discovered the secret of perpetual motion.”

“Franklin W. Dixon,” in The Hardy Boys’ Guide to Life (2002), cited as if from the 18th Hardy Boys’ mystery, The Twisted Claw (1939; 1969), not confirmed. 

Fate laughs at probabilities.

Edward Bulwer-​Lytton, Eugene Aram (1832).

We live in a dangerous world, never knowing where our next meal may come from. Learn a little botany in case you’re ever marooned on a jungle island.

“Franklin W. Dixon,” in The Hardy Boys’ Guide to Life (2002), cited as if from the sixth Hardy Boys’ mystery, The Shore Road Mystery (1928; 1964), not confirmed.

Men who can succeed in deceiving no one else will succeed at last in deceiving themselves.

Anthony Trollope, Miss Mackenzie (1865).

Make sure your plan is foolproof before going ahead with it.

“Franklin W. Dixon,” in The Hardy Boys’ Guide to Life (2002), cited as if from the 18th Hardy Boys’ mystery, The Twisted Claw (1939; 1969), not confirmed. 

The easiest person to deceive is one’s own self.

Edward Bulwer-​Lytton, The Disowned (1828).

No man thinks there is much ado about nothing when the ado is about himself.

Anthony Trollope, The Bertrams (1859).

There is no society, however free and democratic, where wealth will not create an aristocracy.

Edward Bulwer-​Lytton, The Disowned (1828).