Category: Thought

The hours of a wise man are lengthened by his ideas, as those of a fool are by his passions.

Joseph Addison (1672–1719), “Spare Time” (Essays and Tales, 1888), Part Two.

Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.

Henry David Thoreau, Journals (1847).

Écrasez l’infâme!

Make War on Injustice!

Voltaire’s rallying cry, launched in his Philosophical Dictionary (1764) — literally, ‘Crush the infamous!’, but more idiomatically translated as ‘Make War on Injustice!’ or ‘Destroy Bigotry!’

Remember, to learn and not to do is really not to learn. To know and not to do is really not to know.

Stephen Covey, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (1989), p. 12.

Whatever pretended pessimists in search of notoriety may say, most people are naturally kind, at heart.

James Branch Cabell, The Cream of the Jest: A Comedy of Evasion (1917).

Let natural consequences teach responsible behavior. One of the kindest things we can do is to let the natural or logical consequences of people’s actions teach them responsible behavior. They may not like it or us, but popularity is a fickle standard by which to measure character development.

I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: ‘Oh Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.’ And God granted it.

François-Marie Arouet (1694–1778), aka Voltaire, in a letter to Étienne Noël Damilaville.

I have the nerve to walk my own way, however hard, in my search for reality, rather than climb upon the rattling wagon of wishful illusions.

Zora Neale Hurston, in a letter to Countee Cullen.

Values are social norms — they’re personal, emotional, subjective, and arguable. All of us have values. Even criminals have values. The question you must ask yourself is, Are your values based upon principles? In the last analysis, principles are natural laws — they’re impersonal, factual, objective and self-evident. Consequences are governed by principles and behavior is governed by values; therefore, value principles!

People are raging on the streets of Rome, Paris, Melbourne, London, and many other major cities around the world, even while the national press ignores them for fear of spreading discontent. In the US, the protests are taking the form of quiet seething, illustrated in part by a president who is ramping up the controls by the day, even as his approval ratings are underwater by double digit numbers. Crowds chanting “#uck Joe Biden” are re-rendered by the press as “Let’s go Brandon,” as if that is going to fool anyone. 

Jeffrey A. Tucker, “How Close Is Total Social and Economic Collapse?” Brownstone Institute, October 15, 2021.