Category: Thought

A famous theorem in economics states that a competitive enterprise economy will produce the largest possible income from a given stock of resources. No real economy meets the exact conditions of the theorem, and all real economies will fall short of the ideal economy — a difference called “market failure.” In my view, however, the degree of “market failure” for the American economy is much smaller than the “political failure” arising from the imperfections of economic policies found in real political systems. The merits of laissez-faire rest less on its famous theoretical foundations than on its advantages over the actual performance of rival forms of economic organization.

George J. Stigler, entry on Monopoly in Concise Encyclopedia of Economics.

Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.

Winston Churchill, speech, House of Commons, November 11, 1947, can be found in Winston S. Churchill: His Complete Speeches, 1897–1963, ed. Robert Rhodes James, vol. 7, p. 7566 (1974).

I do not conceal my lack of admiration for a painfully long list of redistributive measures undertaken by modern governments. Many serve no ethically accepted purpose such as compassion for the needy; indeed, they serve only as recognition of which groups possess or lack political influence.

George Stigler, “The Effect of Government on Economic Efficiency,” Business Economics
 (1988): 7-13.

Hate, hunger, and pride make better levers of propaganda than do love or impartiality.

Jacques Ellul, Propaganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes (1962).

No nation keeps its word. A nation is a big, blind worm, following what? Fate perhaps. A nation has no honour, it has no word to keep.

Carl Gustav Jung, interview with H. R. Knickerbocker (1939), quoted in A Life of Jung (2002) by Ronald Hayman, p. 360.

Man, if he is to remain man, must advance by way of consciousness. There is no road leading backward. . . . We can no longer veil reality from ourselves by renouncing self-consciousness without simultaneously excluding ourselves from the historical course of human existence.

Karl Jaspers, Man in the Modern Age (1968).

When we become conscious of that which determines our life we attain the highest degree of freedom.

Jacques Ellul, The Betrayal of Technology (1993).

Man needs difficulties; they are necessary for health.

Carl Gustav Jung, “The Transcendent Function” (1916).

We have a pretty witty king,
Whose word no man relies on.
He never said a foolish thing,
And never did a wise one.

John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, Epigram about Charles II of England.

If you wou’d be reveng’d of your enemy, govern your self.

From Poor Richard’s Almanack (1734).