“But what more oft in Nations grown corrupt, And by thir vices brought to servitude, Than to love Bondage more than Liberty, Bondage with ease than strenuous liberty;”
“Countrymen: I have given proofs, as well as the best of you, of desiring liberty for our country, and I continue to desire it. But I place as a premise the education of the people, so that by means of instruction and work they may have a personality of their own and that they may make themselves worthy of that same liberty. In my writings I have recommended the study of the civic virtues, without which there can be no redemption. I have also written (and my words have been repeated) that reforms, to be fruitful, must come from above, that those which spring from below are uncertain and insecure movements. Imbued with these ideas, I cannot do less than condemn, and I do condemn, this absurd, savage rebellion, planned behind my back, which dishonors the Filipinos and discredits those who can speak for us. I abominate all criminal actions and refuse any kind of participation in them, pitying with all my heart the dupes who have allowed themselves to be deceived. Go back, then, to your homes, and may God forgive those who have acted in bad faith.”
“...The arbitrary power of the Government is unlimited, and unexampled in history; freedom of the Press, of opinion and of movement are as thoroughly exterminated as though the proclamation of the Rights of Man had never been.”
“the general or prevailing opinion in any subject is rarely or never the whole truth; it is only by the collision of adverse opinions that the remainder of the truth has any chance of being supplied”
“People and their values are almost infinitely diverse, and people will never agree on many elements of social arrangements that might be subjected to uniform rules of governance. Hence, the greater the scope of strictly individual self-determination, the lesser the scope of governance, and the greater the tolerance with which people live and let live among their fellows, the more peaceful and flourishing society will be”
“The government enforces a monopoly over the production and distribution of its alleged services and brings violence to bear against would-be competitors. In so doing, it reveals the fraud at the heart of its impudent claims and gives sufficient proof that it is not a genuine protector, but a mere protection racket.”
“I think you could probably thaw out a glacier, honey. -Hardy Cates”
“Tyranny in democratic republics does not proceed in the same way, however. It ignores the body and goes straight for the soul. The master no longer says: You will think as I do or die. He says: You are free not to think as I do. You may keep your life, your property, and everything else. But from this day forth you shall be as a stranger among us. You will retain your civic privileges, but they will be of no use to you. For if you seek the votes of your fellow citizens, they will withhold them, and if you seek only their esteem, they will feign to refuse even that. You will remain among men, but you will forfeit your rights to humanity. When you approach your fellow creatures, they will shun you as one who is impure. And even those who believe in your innocence will abandon you, lest they, too, be shunned in turn. Go in peace, I will not take your life, but the life I leave you with is worse than death.”
“I realized that conservatism was the philosophy that best suited me, with its emphasis on individual liberty, personal responsibility, and merit.”
“Our contemporaries are constantly wracked by two warring passions: they feel the need to be led and the desire to remain free. Unable to destroy either of these contrary instincts, they seek to satisfy both at once. They imagine a single, omnipotent, tutelary power, but one that is elected by the citizens. They combine centralization with popular sovereignty. This gives them some respite. They console themselves for being treated as wards by imagining that they have chosen their own protectors. Each individual allows himself to be clapped in chains because that the other end of the chain is held not by a man or a class but by the people themselves.”
“There are temptations more attractive than angels. Liberty, Patriotism, the good of humanity – words like that are the silver scales of the Tempter’s flaming wings”
“We make the choice . . . and then the choice makes us”
“The liberty of the individual must be thus far limited, he must not make himself a nuisance to other people.”
“در انگلستان به علت وضع خاص تاریخی این کشور گرچه یوغ افکار عمومی شاید سنگین‌تر باشد ولی فشار قانون بار تحمیل کردن آن افکار به مردم با مقایسه به وضع سایر کشورهای اروپایی تا حدی سبک است. مردم انگلستان از نفس این عمل که قوه‌ی مقننه یا مجریه مستقیما در رفتار خصوصی افراد مداخله کند نفرت دارند گرچه این نفرت ناشی از احترام جبلی (سرشتی، ذاتی) آنها به حفظ استقلال فردی نیست بلکه زاییده‌ی آن ترس و وحشت ملی است که هنوز به کلی از بین نرفته است و حکومت را در چشم مردم این کشور قدرتی که مصالحی بر خلاف عامه‌ی خلق دارد نشان می‌دهد. اکثریت مردم هنوز به این نکته پی نبرده‌اند که قدرت و عقیده‌ی حکومت وقت به واقع قدرت و عقیده‌ی خود آنهاست. اما موقعی که از این حقیقت آگاه شدند آزادی فردی شاید به همان میزان که در حال حاضر دستخوش تعدی افکار عمومی است در معرض تاخت و تاز حکومت نیز قرار گیرد. خوشبختانه هنوز مقدار زیادی احساسات مقاوم در این کشور هست که هر آنی می‌شود بسیجش کرد و بر ضد مداخله‌ی قانون در حوزه‌هایی که حریم اختصاصی افراد است بکار برد. در عین حال این احساس عمومی فرقی هم در این زمینه قایل نیست که آیا موضوعی که دولت می‌خواهد در آن مداخله کند در حوزه‌ی مشروع نظارت قانونی هست یا نیست. بی‌قیدی مردم در این باره به حدی است که خود این احساس مقاوم گرچه روی‌هم‌رفته بی‌نهایت سودمند است چه بسا که از روی اشتباه ابراز می‌شود چون به واقع اصل ثابتی که انسان به کمک آن بتواند حقانیت یا عدم حقانیت دخالت حکومت را تشخیص بدهد وجود ندارد و مردم برحسب عادت روی ترجیحات و پسندهای شخصی خود تصمیم می گیرند. بعضی‌ها وقتی می‌بینند کار خوبی هست که باید انجام شود یا زیانی هست که باید درمان شود حکومت را با کمال میل و رغبت به انجام آن تشویق می‌کنند در حالی که دیگران ترجیح می‌دهند تقریبا هر نوع زیان اجتماعی را تحمل کنند تا اینکه پای مداخله‌ی حکومت را به بخش جدیدی از مصالح عمومی بکشانند.”
“I looked down at the brochure nearest me. We re going to Nigeria, I threatened. I hope you like elephant polo. -Liberty Jones”
“I am conscious that an equal division of property is impracticable. But the consequences of this enormous inequality [in Europe] producing so much misery to the bulk of mankind, legislators cannot invent too many devices for subdividing property,...[One] means of silently lessening the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below a certain point, and to tax the higher portions of property in geometrical progression as they rise.”
“Whenever there is in any country, uncultivated lands and unemployed poor, it is clear that the laws of property have been so far extended as to violate natural right. The earth is given as a common stock for man to labour and live on. If, for the encouragement of industry we allow it to be appropriated, we must take care that other employment be furnished to those excluded from the appropriation. If we do not the fundamental right to labour the earth returns to the unemployed.”