The essential characteristic of Western civilization that distinguishes it from the arrested and petrified civilizations of the East was and is its concern for freedom from the state. The history of the West, from the age of the Greek polis down to the present-day resistance to socialism, is essentially the history of the fight for liberty against the encroachments of the officeholders.
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Given one well-trained physician of the highest type he will do better work for a thousand people than ten specialists.
Given one well-trained physician of the highest type he will do better work for a thousand people than ten specialists.
The danger inherent in reform is that the cure may be worse than the disease. Reform is an operation on read more
The danger inherent in reform is that the cure may be worse than the disease. Reform is an operation on the social body; but unlike medical surgeons, reformers are not on guard against unpredictable side effects which may divert the course of reform toward unwanted results. Moreover, quite often the social doctors become part of the disease.
Both the revolutionary and the creative individual are perpetual juveniles. The revolutionary does not grow up because he cannot grow, read more
Both the revolutionary and the creative individual are perpetual juveniles. The revolutionary does not grow up because he cannot grow, while the creative individual cannot grow up because he keeps growing.
In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards.
In the first place, God made idiots. That was for practice. Then he made school boards.
People are beginning to realize that the apparatus of government is costly. But what they do not know is that read more
People are beginning to realize that the apparatus of government is costly. But what they do not know is that the burden falls inevitably on them.
Only enemies speak the truth. Friends and lovers lie endlessly, caught in the web of duty.
Only enemies speak the truth. Friends and lovers lie endlessly, caught in the web of duty.
I deserve respect for the things I did not do.
I deserve respect for the things I did not do.
The man whose authority is recent is always stern.
The man whose authority is recent is always stern.
The war for liberty never ends. One day liberty has to be defended against the power of wealth, on another read more
The war for liberty never ends. One day liberty has to be defended against the power of wealth, on another day against the intrigues of politicians, on another against the dead hand of bureaucrats, on another against the patrioter and the militarist, on another against the profiteer, and then against the hysteria and the passions of the mobs, against obscurantism and stupidity, against the criminal and against the overrighteous. In this campaign every civilized man is enlisted till he dies, and he only has known the full joy of living who somewhere and at some time has struck a decisive blow for the freedom of the human spirit.
