When we think of eternity, and of the future consequences of all human conduct, what is there in this life that should make any man contradict the dictates of his conscience, the principles of justice, the laws of religion, and of God?
To be governed is to be watched, inspected, spied upon, directed, law-driven, numbered, regulated, enrolled, indoctrinated, preached at, controlled, checked, estimated, valued, censured, commanded, by creatures who have neither the right nor the wisdom nor the virtue to do so.
Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Idée Générale de la Révolution au XIXe Siècle [The General Idea of the Revolution] (1851).
Il est défendu de tuer; tout meurtrier est puni, à moins
qu’il n’ait tué en grande compagnie, et au son des trompettes.
It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets.
François-Marie Arouet (1694 – 1778), pen name Voltaire, “Rights” (1771).
The Socialists say, since the law organizes justice, why should it not organize labor, instruction, and religion?
Why? Because it could not organize labor, instruction, and religion, without disorganizing justice.
Frédéric Bastiat, The Law (1850).
The vices respectively fall short of or exceed what is right in both passions and actions, while virtue both finds and chooses that which is intermediate.
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book Two.
Happiness is a good flow of life.
Zeno of Citium, as quoted by Stobaeus, Anthology, ii. 77.
One can hardly say that republicanism has failed, or say a priori that it is bound to fail, so long as it has not been tried under conditions essential to its success.
Albert Jay Nock, Journals.
Tim Berners-Lee released files describing his idea for the World Wide Web, which debuted on August 6, 1991, as a publicly available service on the Internet.
Piety requires us to honor truth above our friends.
Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics, Book One.
“In our civilization, and under our republican form of government, intelligence is so highly honored that it is rewarded by exemption from the cares of office.”