Category: Thought

When Edward I forbade all towns to harbour forestallers, and when Edward VI made it penal to buy grain for the purpose of selling it again, they were preventing the process by which consumption is adjusted to supply: they were doing all that could be done to insure alternations of abundance and starvation. Similarly with the many legislative attempts since made to regulate one branch or other of the food-industry, down to the corn-law sliding-scale of odious memory. For the marvellous efficiency of this organization we are indebted to private enterprise; while the derangements of it we owe to the positively-regulative action of the Government. Meanwhile, its negatively-regulative action, required to keep this organization in order, Government has not duly performed. A quick and costless remedy for breach of contract, when a trader sells, as the commodity asked for, what proves to be wholly or in part some other commodity, is still wanting.

Herbert Spencer, “Specialized Administration,” The Fortnightly Review(December 1871).

Don’t try to solve serious matters in the middle of the night.

Philip K. Dick, “What The Dead Men Say” (1964).

If men use their liberty in such a way as to surrender their liberty, are they thereafter any the less slaves?

Herbert Spencer, “The New Toryism,” The Man Versus the State (1884).

‘Neanderthal’* is a bad word. It means . . . Well, you guys know what it means. It depends which political party you are, what it means, right?

* Pronounced with a soft th; John Hawks, explaining why the hominid Homo neanderthalensis should be pronounced with a ‘hard T’, “Are We the Last Neanderthals?” 24th Chicago Humanities Festival, Nov. 2, 2013.

What kind of press do we need or want? A fair and objective press? No. We need a free and independent press, and modern media has gone the way of the 18th and 19th centuries. That is a good thing.

Brion McClanahan, “Fake News,” The Brion McClanahan Show, March 2, 2017 (on how Internet media is bringing news back to its honest and openly partisan origins … and why Tom Brokaw is a pompous, know-nothing windbag)

I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, detail (above) of a portrait by Richard Rothwell, oil on canvas, first exhibited 1840.

That’s the beauty of the Web: You can roll around in a stranger’s obsession without having to smell his or her house. You can amscray whenever you want without being rude. The site gets its ‘hit’ and you know more about our species’ diversity.

Penn Jillette, “Free Celebrity Nudes!” in Penn’s Columns (15 October 1997) at Penn & Teller.com.

All judges had rather that ten innocent should suffer than that one guilty should escape.

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Victor Frankenstein of Justine Moritz in Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus (1818), Ch. 8

[O]ver two-thirds of the railways of the world belong to private companies. Moreover, of the 24,500 miles of railway belonging to the state of British India, 18,000 miles are operated by private companies. In Holland all the lines are operated by companies. In Belgium the tramway lines are longer than the state railways, and they are operated by private companies. Lines in Great Britain, which have three, four, or even more tracks, are included in these figures on the line and not the track basis. The total length of line is 23,287 miles. The length of main track, however, is 39,851 miles, and of main track and sidings, 54,311 miles.

The greatest system in the world, that of the United States, is owned by private companies. Mr. Bryan, on returning from Europe in 1903, introduced nationalization of railways into his platform, without informing any of the members of the Democratic party of his intention. This brilliant inspiration helped to destroy his chances for the presidency.

The operating ratios suffice to show that superior administrative capacity is not to be found on the side of the several states which exercise it in this direction.

Yves Guyot, Where and Why Public Ownership Has Failed, Book II: Financial Results of Government and Municipal Ownership; Chapter IX, Public vs. Private Operation” (American edition, 1913).

Do you think it not lawful for me to teach women and why do you call me to teach the court?

Anne Hutchinson, testimony in her trial for teaching women in the Massachusetts Bay Colony church (1637)