If the greatest philosophers have been able to deceive themselves as to the iniquity of slavery, how much easier is it for farmers and manufacturers to deceive themselves as to the nature and effects of the protective system.
Frédéric Bastiat on protective tariffs, in Economic Sophisms: Second Series (1848), The Natural History of Spoliation.”
It is one of the unhappy incidents of the federal system that a self-righteous Supreme Court, acting on its Members’ personal view of what would make a “more perfect Union” (a criterion only slightly more restrictive than a “more perfect world”) can impose its own favored social and economic dispositions nationwide.
It is not proper either to have a blunt sword or to use freedom of speech ineffectually.
Neither is the sun to be taken from the world, nor freedom of speech from erudition.
Pythagoras, as quoted Florilegium of Stobaeus, Thomas Taylor, translator (1818).
I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.
Abraham Maslow, The Psychology of Science: A Reconnaissance (1966).
We ought so to behave to one another as to avoid making enemies of our friends, and at the same time to make friends of our enemies.
Pythagoras, as quoted by Diogenes Laërtius, Lives and Opinions of the Eminent Philosophers,
We’re here to make space more accessible to all. We want to turn the next generation of dreamers into the astronauts of today and tomorrow. We’ve all us on this stage have had the most extraordinary experience, and we’d love it if a number of you can have it, too. . . . If you ever had a dream, now is the time to make it come true — and I’d like to end by saying welcome to the dawn of a new space age.
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson (born July 18, 1950), upon returning from his “first billionaire in space” flight on his Virgin Galactic VSS Unity, July 11, 2021.