Quotations

Beyond Statism

 



 

Education  (^)
[1913] Piotr Kropotkin, Fields, Factories and Workshops 
"Waste of time is the leading feature of our present education. Not only are we taught a mass of rubbish, but what is not rubbish is taught so as to make us waste over it as much time as possible."

 


 

Finance  (^)
[1852] Karl Marx , The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte 
"By the aristocracy of finance must here be understood not merely the great loan promoters and speculators in public funds, in regard to whom it is immediately obvious that their interests coincide with the interests of the state power. All modern finance, the whole of the banking business, is interwoven in the closest fashion with public credit."

 


 

Freedom  (^)
[1791] Wilhelm von Humboldt , The Limits of State Action
"Among men who are really free, every form of industry becomes more rapidly improved - all the arts flourish more gracefully - all the sciences extend their range."
[1793] Madame Roland (Marie Jeanne Philipon) [executed by the French state during the Revolution]
"Liberté, que de crimes on commet en ton nom!"
[1759] Benjamin Franklin (attributed)
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
[1840]  Alexis de Tocqueville,  De la Démocratie en Amérique, vol. II
"Les biens que la liberté procure ne se montrent qu'à la longue, et il est toujours facile de méconnaître les causes qui les fait naître." 
[1878]  Lord Acton,  The History of Freedom in Antiquity
"Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the highest political end."
[1887]  Lord Acton, Letter to Mandell Creighton 
"Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely."
[1938]  Ignazio Silone,  La scuola dei dittatori
 "Giustamente i greci pensavano che non fosse il tiranno a creare i servi, ma i servi il tiranno. Ogni nazione, si può anche dire, alla lunga ha il governo che merita. Infatti, si sono mai visti popoli liberi soggiacere a lungo alla tirannia e popoli servili godere la libertà?"

 


 

Government  (^)
[1776]  Thomas Paine, Common Sense
"Society in every state is a blessing, but government, even in its best state, is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intolerable one."

 


 

Human development (^)
[1791] Wilhelm von Humboldt , The Limits of State Action
"The more a man acts on his own, the more he develops himself. In large associations he is too prone to become merely an instrument."

 


 

Majority  (^)
[1835]  Alexis de Tocqueville,  De la Démocratie en Amérique, vol. I
"De notre temps, la liberté d'association est devenue une garantie nécessaire contre la tyrannie de la majorité."
[1840] Alexis de Tocqueville,  De la Démocratie en Amérique, vol. II
"Quand je sens la main du pouvoir qui s'appesantit sur mon front ... je ne suis pas mieux disposé à passer ma tête dans le joug, parce qu'un million de bras me le présentent."

 


 

Nationalism  (^)
[1921]  Albert Einstein,  Letter
"Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind."
[1960]  Elie Kedourie,  Nationalism
"Nationalism is a doctrine invented in Europe at the beginning of the nineteenth century."

 


 

Norms (Natural - Rational)  (^)
[170 a.C.] Marcus Aurelius,  Meditations
"To the rational animal, the same act is according to nature and according to reason."
[1840] Alexis de Tocqueville,  De la Démocratie en Amérique, vol. II
"Le genre humaine éprouve des besoins permanents et généraux, qui ont fait naître des lois morales à l'inobservance desquelles tous les hommes ont naturellement attaché, en tous lieux et en tous temps, l'idée du blâme et de la honte. Ils ont appelé faire mal s'y soustraire, fair bien s'y soumettre."

 


 

Parliaments  (^)
[1852]  Karl Marx , The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte 
"Parliamentary cretinism: that peculiar malady which since 1848 has raged all over the Continent, which holds those infected by it fast in an imaginary world and robs them of all sense, all memory, all understanding of the rude external world."
[1867]  Walter Bagehot,  The English Constitution
"A Parliament is nothing less than a big meeting of more or less idle people." 

 


 

Parties  (^)
[1831]  Ralph Waldo Emerson,  Journals
"A sect or party is an elegant incognito devised to save a man from the vexation of thinking."
[1835]  Alexis de Tocqueville,  De la Démocratie en Amérique, vol. I
"Les hommes de parti, qui vivent des passions du peuple, se mirent à l'exploiter à leur profit." (p. 508)
[1852]  Karl Marx,  The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte 
"As in private life one differentiates between what a man thinks and says of himself and what he really is and does, so in historical struggles one must distinguish still more the phrases and fancies of parties from their real organism and their real interests, their conception of themselves, from their reality."
[1887]  John Arbuthnot,  in Richard Garnett, Life of Emerson
"All political parties die at last of swallowing their own lies."
[1933]  Alfred North Whitehead,  Adventures in Ideas
"There is no greater hindrance to the progress of thought than an attitude of irritated party-spirit."

 


 

Police  (^)
[1791] Wilhelm von Humboldt , The Limits of State Action
"If it were possible to make an accurate calculation of the evils which police regulations occasion, and of those which they prevent, the number of the former would, in all cases, exceed that of the latter."

 


 

Progress  (^)
[1835]  Alexis de Tocqueville,  De la Démocratie en Amérique, vol. I
"Le plus ou moins de facilité que rencontre le peuple à vivre sans travailler forme donc la limite nécessaire de ses progrès intellectuels."

 


 

Selfishness  (^)
[1891]  Oscar Wilde,  The Soul of Man under Socialism
"Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live. It is asking others to live as one wishes to live."

 


 

State  (^)
[1638-1715]  Louis XIV (attributed)
 "L'État c'est moi!"
[1791] Wilhelm von Humboldt , The Limits of State Action
"The State is not in itself an end, but is only a means towards human development."
[1837]  Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel,  The Philosophy of History
"The State is the Divine idea as it exists on Earth."
[1845]  Max Stirner,  The Ego and His Own
"The purpose of the State is always the same: to limit the individual, to tame him, to subordinate him, to subjugate him."
[1917]  Vladimir Ulianov Lenin,  The State and Revolution
"While the State exists there is no freedom; when there is freedom there will be no state."
[1924]  Antonio Gramsci,  La costruzione del Partito Comunista 1923-1926
"Ogni Stato è una dittatura;"
("Every State is a dictatorship.")
[1938]  Bertrand Russell,  Power
"No other organization rouses anything like the loyalty aroused by the national State. And the chief activity of the State is preparation for large-scale homicide."
[1949]  Ignazio Silone,  Uscita di sicurezza
"Lo Stato è sempre ruberia, camorra, privilegio, e non può essere altro."
("The State always stands for swindling, intrigue, and privilege, and cannot stand for anything else.")
[1949] Curzio Malaparte, La Pelle
"Poi mi domandavano cosa fosse uno Stato totalitario. Io rispondevo: È uno Stato dove tutto ció che non è proibito, è obbligatorio."

 


 

State administration (^)
[1835]  Alexis de Tocqueville,  De la Démocratie en Amérique, vol.I
"Il arrive souvent qu'on ne se charge de diriger les fortunes de l'État que quand on se sent peu capable de conduire ses propres affaires."

 


 

Taxation  (^)
[1817]  David Ricardo,  Principles of Political Economy and Taxation
"Taxation under every form presents but a choice of evils."
[1852] Karl Marx , The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte 
"Taxes are the source of life for the bureaucracy, the army and the court, in short, for the whole apparatus of the executive power. Strong government and heavy taxes are identical."

 


 

Uniformity (^)
[1840] Alexis de Tocqueville,  De la Démocratie en Amérique, vol. II
"On peut dire ... que tout gouvernement central adore l'uniformité; l'uniformité lui épargne l'examen d'une infinité de détails dont il devrait s'occuper s'il faillait faire la règle pour les hommes, au lieu de faire passer indistinctement tous les hommes sous la même règle."

 


 

Variety  (^)
[1791] Wilhelm von Humboldt , The Limits of State Action
"The very variety arising from the union of numbers of individuals is the highest good which social life can confer, and this variety is undoubtedly lost in proportion to the degree of State interference."

 


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